Poetry Friday round-up is with Molly at Nix the Comfort Zone.
School has started here in the midst of hot, humid August. I’m setting up three classrooms at three schools (quite the challenge!), so lists have become important to me. What do I need at this school that I know I have at that school: tape, markers, glue sticks, etc. The lists go on and on.
But lists can also become poems. And in the midst of this stress, a list poem relaxes me. They release stress much like to-do lists do.
One way I can relax is to peruse Facebook. Tuesday I saw a post from Margarita Engle about sand poetry. I also thought about my promise for writing during the school year and opened to a clean notebook page. And this comment from Cathy Mere made it into the poem as well, “Loved this, Margaret. Your advice to just open our notebooks and put the date on the page to see what happens is among my favorites. I’ve been thinking about this in terms of “margin.” In the summer, we all managed to get a little margin – a little white space – in our lives. How do we maintain that as the busyness of the school year approaches? Figuring out how to maintain space for doing the things we love is something I’ll be thinking more about as the school year begins.”
In the Margins, write a poem
For more list poems, try Georgia Heard’s collection Falling Down the Page or this page on The Poem Farm.
Reflections on the Teche 
Margaret, I’m always inspired by how you find poetry in your daily life. August is ripe with lists, and I love your thoughts on turning lists into poetry in the margins of your life. Well done!
Oh, I do love the idea of summer being a much needed margin. Beautiful post….lists, lists, lists. I have some going already too.
I am a big list maker and I’ve never thought about turning them into a poem. I like it and your poem gave me a glimpse into your life. Thanks for sharing!
Nicely done, Margaret. I’ve been wondering about that question — how to keep a margin during the school year — and I don’t have an answer for that. It seems like snow days give us that space, but those are a long way away!
I love your perspective–you can write and be inspired anywhere! Thanks for sharing your poem.
I love list poems too! Wonderful poem, especially the line, “in the margins of your life.” So much happens in those little margins of life!
I’m also a fan of lists–and list poems! I love the idea of finding space for poetry in the margins of our lives.
Ahhh…the margins of our lives. Here’s to the blank space, to the marginal notes, to the poetry.Thank you!
“In the margins of your life
A poem”
I love how you’ve taken a comment, your own lists and the reality of back to school and combined it into something that resonates in multiple ways. Thank you.
Wonderful thought about margins and white space. Something to aim for in these busy days of back-to-school… Ruth, thereisnosuchthingasagodforsakentown.blogspot.com
Such wisdom to look for and to protect the margins in our live. Thank you.
Such a good way to capture the in-betweens, the quiet, stolen moments, the margins of our lives. In a poem where thoughts can pop and fizz from list to list, without one thing needing to be done.
I like lists that require nothing of you. Thanks for your comment.
Fantastic, Margaret – thanks for sharing! And wishing you wee margins as you travel back and forth between your “places” – lucky students in each one.
I laughed at the margins and thought about all the receipts, napkins, paper bags, backs of envelopes, etc. that I’ve squeezed in words, thoughts and whole poems – just as most here most likely would say if you polled them! And then the lists. I just did two lists yesterday in preparation for a writing, and then thought how I could put them together as a poem. This felt so much like a “homecoming” post!! Thanks!
I love your last line Margaret,
“in the margins of your life,
a poem.”
I’ve at times scribbled away on just about anything. A few nights ago the only thing I had close at hand was a copy of “Frogpond” from HSA and there on the inside back cover I poured out my poem. Good luck with this new school year and fitting things in between.