Poetry Friday is at Jama at Jama’s Alphabet Soup.
Last week, I attended the memorial celebration for Linda’s dad. I was surprised to find out he loved poetry. So his daughters used poetry to voice their thoughts and memories of him. Linda wrote a limerick and her sister Sallie wrote a series of 12 haiku.
After the service, I spoke with Linda’s sister Sallie. Sallie told me a story. Her father loved ice cream. He’d eat ice cream every night and served it to his multiple cats. Even on the night before he died, he had ice cream. She said a day later when all the family had gathered and were enjoying being together telling stories about his life, they heard the chiming of an ice cream truck. They live down a country road. The ice cream truck rarely comes, but it came that day. Serendipity or a message from her father, I felt compelled to share my favorite line of poetry.
This line is in Naomi Shihab Nye’s poem Ringing in her book A Maze Me.
Ringing
by Naomi Shihab NyeA baby, I stood in my crib to hear
the dingy-ding of a vegetable truck approaching.When I was bigger, my mom took me out
to the street
to meet the man who rang the bell and
he tossed me
a tangerine…the first thing I ever caught.
I thought he was
a magic man.My mom said there used to be milk trucks too.
She said, Look hard, he’ll be gone soon.
And she was right. He disappeared.Now, when I hear an ice-cream truck chiming
its bells, I fly.
Even if I’m not hungry–just to watch it pass.Mailmen with their chime of dogs barking
up and down the street are magic too.They are all bringers.
I want to be a bringer.I want to drive a truck full of eggplants
down the smallest street.
I want to be someone making music
with my coming.
My friend Dani heard this story and made a graphic for me. To celebrate Naomi’s beautiful line, I decided to write a Golden Shovel. The poem emerged as a tribute to my mother and all mothers who sing to their children.
Lullaby
A baby, I
heard lullabies soft and low. I want
to hear her sing again, to
be that child hungry for the world, to be
laughing, listening, someone
who finds joy in making
songs of nonsense, music
only a mother loves with
an unexpectant heart. I hold my
ears close to the rain on the window. A song is coming.–Margaret Simon, after Naomi Shihab Nye
Reflections on the Teche 
Margaret, you are absolutely a bringer. A lovely post and a WOW! of a golden shovel. The memory and the ear to the rain…the music coming. Just beautiful. Thank you.
I think I was writing a comment on your blog at the exact same time. Love sharing this poetry journey with you!
Margaret, you’ve written a beauty of a poem. Just lovely.
On the day my father-in-law died, we celebrated him that evening by having ice cream for dinner. He was a big advocate of ice cream instead of a meal.
I see your name in the list and can’t wait to read your words. They are always music Such a wonderful ice cream story. Made me miss my dad–he ate a small bowl of ice cream almost every evening. I lost him right after college.The ice cream truck’s ringing is a magical summer sound. And WOW, such an amazing shovel poem!! Made me miss my mother.
Margaret, this is just wonderful. “To/ be that child hungry for the world” is a line that just resonated. The Nye poem is lovely, too. Don’t all poets want to be bringers, making music with our words to tell the world we’re here?
I love your Golden Shovel “Lullaby” Margaret, I”ll remember your words between the raindrops. Lovely image and poem by Naomi Shihab Nye, thanks for sharing all!
Your “Lullaby” and the “Ringer” by Naomi Shihab Nye that it responds to, are gifts, leading to sweet thoughts. In my youngest child years we ate from our huge vegetable garden in summer because my Dad was originally a farm boy so her sharing about a vegetable truck is a new delight.
Appreciations, Margaret for opening our eyes to the World.
As a baby poet, experiences with poetry like this are wonderful to behold! Reading the original poem really gave me a deeper understanding of its message. And I love the unique message you birthed in your poem from the first. Magic!
I love that line, too. Hopefully we can all bring a little joy with us, everywhere we go.
Such a lovely, musical, resonant post! I like how all the parts ring and ring on together. Margaret, you did amazing things with your form journey in April and with your students! I’m sorry I missed so much of it, and I hope to have time this month to come back and back again to your beauties. Congratulations on making it to Ode!
Rich post, Margaret, full of music. I love the ending of your golden shovel. *happy sigh*
You make music each time you write a poem, Margaret. Your beautiful response and Naomi Shihab Nye’s original poem… they both sing gently and lovingly to the world.
Your golden shovel is so beautiful. Enjoyed hearing about Linda’s dad’s love for ice cream and about the family hearing that ice cream truck. Serendipity for sure. Nye’s poem, especially that last line, is divine.
I love all the wonderful sounds in Nye’s poem, Margaret. I lived in the UK for a year, and I vividly remember the sound of both the milk truck/cart pulling up to the dorm with its daily delivery and then pulling away. A distinct sound, accompanied by the clinking of empty glass bottles being retrieved. I have never attempted a golden shovel, but you’ve inspired me!
You are a bringer indeed, Margaret – thanks for the poetry gifts from Naomi and from you.
I agree with others that you are a bringer, Margaret. I love that term. It is so endearing and giving a word. Your golden shovel has a gentle ring to it and I can see me reading your poem to my little one when she arrives. Continue to hold your ears close to the rain on the windows.
All of this is lovely, Margaret. Wonderful Nye story, and wonderful poem of tribute. You brought new ideas today.
I want to be the kind of person who can think of the perfect poem for the moment! You are totally a bringer, and I’m inspired to more of one. (polishing my bell now!)
This is a beautiful, beautiful post. Thank you! (By the way, here in Haiti, some of the water trucks play the theme from Titanic, slightly off-key.)
As so many others have said, you are a “bringer” of beauty, Margaret. Your gorgeous Golden Shovel poem is the perfect response to Naomi Shihab Nye’s beautiful words. Thank you for sharing your music, and being such an inspiration!
Not only is your poem touching on its own, Margaret, but it’s a nice complement to Nye’s!