Laura Purdie Salas started a sharing group on Facebook around the journal companion to Steal Like An Artist by Austin Kleon. One of the exercises asks you to steal a title to create your own story.
I recently attended an art show for my friend and SCBWI colleague, Denise Gallagher. The title of her show was “A Teaspoon and a Bit of String.” She is currently involved in an ArtSpark grant for her upcoming middle grade fairy tale. This is her title illustration.
I stole (like an artist) this title to write a poem. For a few weeks this summer I was cleaning out my parents’ home. They moved to a retirement home. I found treasures as I whittled through drawers and closets. A teaspoon and a bit of string fit just right.
A Teaspoon and a Bit of String*
We live in shared spaces
thirty years or more
storing things away
for someday
when you need
a bit of string.Tie it to your shoelace
or round a simple gift.
Hand it to your lover
to remember you with.Down in the abyss
of the silverware drawer,
a teaspoon speaks
of years of sugar
measured,
perhaps the purple medicine
to calm a cough.I tuck this teaspoon
(c) Margaret Simon
into days-old news
tie with a bit of string
and carry it with me
into next time.
*title from Denise Gallagher
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Reflections on the Teche 