Click over to Mary Lee’s site for more poetry.
Fran McVeigh gave me a magnet at NCTE: “Explore new possibilities.” I’m considering the word explore for my 2018 One Little Word, but for today, it inspired the title for a poem requested by Carol Varsalona for her #AutumnAblaze gallery. She saw my photograph on Facebook from a recent canoe voyage on the Bayou Teche (pronounced “tesh”). I loved the photo, too, and was resistant to writing about it. I want you to know this is still in draft, so you can leave soft critique in the comments.
Duperier Bridge on Bayou Teche, New Iberia, LA. photo by Margaret Simon
Explore New Possibilities
On the water,
the canoe turns
toward a horizon
I do not know.I paddle-pull
under a bridge,
listen to the rumble-
a passing carlike thunder from rolling clouds.
Under a bridge
where teenagers
huddle close and smoke,where wooden gates
direct water
as if one could
contain such a wild thing,a golden sunset
draws me toward
a new destination.–Margaret Simon
Mary Lee Hahn invites us to join #haikuforhealing. Inspired by the same photo, a haiku:
where road meets water
a bridge, a golden sunset
a new horizon.
–Margaret Simon
Reflections on the Teche 