Happy Poem in your Pocket Day! I am staying close to home today as huge storms are expected, so I will celebrate quietly this year. I usually carry with me two favorite poems, Kindness by Naomi Shihab Nye and Wild Geese by Mary Oliver.
Yesterday I settled into a corner at Fair Grinds coffee in Mid City New Orleans with a vanilla latte and my journal. Christie Wyman is playing along with poetry this month. She’d noticed that I often label my poems with the word “draft” and a friend of hers thought that made the poem seem alive. Working with a stolen line, some paint chips, and that alive poem draft idea, I wrote this draft.
A Draft
Poems are alive
lapping at the sandy shore*
of my notebook.
Splashing in the waves
of hot sauce
sprinkled on my furious fingers.Out of quarry depths
a draft
spotlights
on
something
worth
waiting
for.–Margaret Simon (draft) 2019
*line from Christie Wyman
Reflections on the Teche 
Oh my word. I love this! Can I borrow a cup of sugar? Stay tuned! xx Christie
“out of quarry depths”–my favorite line!
“Poems are alive
lapping at the sandy shore*
of my notebook.”
What an awesome beginning! I love the idea of a living draft, too. You really are rocking it this month, Margaret!
It’s really a pretty poem to read again and again, Margaret. I love the ending “worth waiting for”.
[…] playmate Margaret Simon honored me by borrowing a line from my haiku I shared on Wednesday. (Click here to see her original post.) Today I am repaying the favor by borrowing a line from a collaborative poem she wrote with her […]
I am a fan of line-lifting — as you may know. So, lifting a line from you here after you lifted your own line there …
Kevin
Hold your breath, poet,
for you are out
of quarry depths —
the best words
may yet arrive
and find you
only after the poem has
left
I always feel a sense of honor when you come by and drop a poem in the comments. Thanks.