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Poetry Friday round-up is with Linda at Teacher Dance.Today is the first day of March, so you know what that means: The annual March Slice of Life Challenge at the Two Writing Teachers! I will be writing a blog post every day and linking it up to Two Writing Teachers. What’s the point?
- Writing every day is an important discipline for a writer and for a teacher of writing.
- Connecting to other teacher-writers inspires and informs my teaching and writing, and I usually make new friends along the way.
- There are prizes!
I first met Jen Vincent through Kate Messner’s Teachers Write, a virtual summer camp for teachers who want to write. If I remember correctly, we did a Google Hangout with other writers and read a section of our work. I further connected with Jen through blogging and Twitter and met up with her at NCTE in 2014. These connections are invaluable to me as a teacher and a writer.
One day I saw that Jen was teaching a workshop. Silly me, I thought it was virtual, so I replied to her message on Facebook, “I want to come.” Since Chicago and South Louisiana are pretty far apart, that was not feasible, but Jen thought of a way. She created a virtual workshop.
We met one Saturday morning by Zoom meeting. She led me through an exercise from Teachers Write by Tracey Baptiste. We made a graphic organizer in our notebooks and labeled three places we had been recently. We then divided each column into two columns. On one side we wrote descriptions about the places and the other side we wrote emotions we felt about the places.
I chose school, dance lessons, and a restaurant where we go dancing. I decided to connect the three places with the thread of dancing.
Dancing Days
I dance through my days…
Halls of smiling teachers
greet my wobbly walk
weighed down with backpack,
lunch bag and Yeti cup.
Miss Marie says, Show me that grandbaby!
After we view the latest pic on my phone,
I dance down the hall to my classroom.At Dance Around the World studio,
bright purple walls of mirror on mirror
reflect my partner and me.
Miss Lou says, Right. Left. Back step.
We follow along,
find our balance–
weightless in a jitterbug twirl.I dance my way to Friday night,
Nouveau String Band at Joie de Vivre,
wooden floors echo the sounds
of greetings, giggles, and two-steps.
Buck says, This waltz is for you.
The weight of the week disappears
to the beat of fiddle, mandolin, and drum.
(c) Margaret Simon
This workshop was a test run for Jen for her new Patreon page, Story Exploratory. If you’d like to find more ways to write, I highly recommend Jen as an instructor. You can view this workshop and others by visiting Jen’s patreon page, Story Exploratory.
Reflections on the Teche 
Thank you for such a wealth of information, going to look into it further, just as soon as I have a moment!
I love poetry of place. Finding a theme that ties the places we visit is a great way to illuminate our inner journeys as well. Thanks for sharing this dance with me.
Georgeous! You do dance through life! What a perfect slice to begin this year’s SOL challenge!
My daughter is a dancer, and I love how you dance through your day and relay it through poetry.
I love your poem and explanation of how you got there. Can’t wait to watch the video.
I like the common theme of weights through your stanzas. You convey movement through the whole thing. Nice job!
Margaret, this is wonderful! The connections between teachers & writers really IS invaluable. I love that I have access to this workshop via video. I’m listening right now….maybe I can write a poem as moving as yours dancing through the day.
I agree: what an invaluable post! In just a few words, you’ve captured why this March experience is so important AND you’ve shared a wonderful poem and prompt to inspire your readers’ own poetry. I loved following your links and watching the video. Thanks!
I was so happy to see your username pop up again in the comments for this month. I loved reading your slices last year, and I know this year I’ll look forward to your slices just as much based on this first one. You are a master with words, and this challenge IS invaluable. Incredible. Happy March!
Love reading all that Jen shares & it seems your virtual visit meant a wonder of a poem, Margaret. I am a lover of connections and you made this happen in those three verses. Beautifully done, especially love the dialogue!
Hi Margaret! I look forward to reading your blog posts again on a regular basis. I’ve missed being a part of this community! This poetry of place idea is a great one! Jen Vincent is wonderful in so many ways! I love how you connected your places with dance. Tabatha’s comment prompted me to go back and reread the thread of weight symbolism. Wonderful!
I, too, am into connections so I very much enjoyed your new poem to kick off the March Challenge. Joie de Vivre sounds like my kind of place. Lucky you!
Well done, Margaret! I can feel “the weight of the week disappear” and hear “the beat of fiddle, mandolin, and drum.” Thank you for sharing Tracy Baptiste’s organizer. This is something I definitely want to try!
What a fun! A personalized workshop… I’m so interested in those possibilities. Your poem is great but I really love the back story most. Here’s to a great month!
Margaret, I love it–a full-on dancing poem in which the dancing is the main course instead of just dancing metaphorically around the edges of lots of other topics! And I agree with Tabatha that the repeated reference to the weight of responsibility, relationship, personal balance makes the poem not only richer but creates its own dance rhythm. Gorgeous.
I love the way you combined all three and love the line “I danced down the hall to my classroom.” That conjures up a warm feeling about teaching. 🙂 I’m checking out link! Thanks. 🙂
3 ideas in one-I like the way each stanza blended with the next.