Christie Wyman has invited the Poetry Friday community to write about trees this week. I am back in school and have so missed the days of writing alongside my students. Because I am itinerant and teach at three schools, I have three opportunities to write during the day. That gave me time to write, read aloud, revise, write. Not to mention the joy my students felt to be back in the saddle of writing.
We used “That was Summer” by Marci Ridlon as a mentor text. The repetition makes this form an easy one to mimic. I chose to write about the different trees we see each season.
Margaret Simon, draft, 2019
Seasons of Trees
after Marci Ridlon “That was Summer”
Remember that time
when the rope swing hung
from the old oak tree
the knot round and rough?
You wrapped your skinny legs on tight
let someone give you a push
your head leaned back
tongue out, tasting the breeze.
That was summer.
Remember that time you gathered pecans
plopping one by one
into grandfather’s tin bucket?
You held the brown nut to the metal cracker,
and turned the handle until Crack!
Tasting hickory butter sweetness.
That was autumn.
Remember when the wind turned cold,
Flakes fell softly on the trees,
and you bundled up and walked
with your sisters through rows and rows
of Christmas spruce,
playing hide and seek
and searching for the just-right one.
That was winter.
Remember how the warm sun rose
on the Japanese magnolia
prompting firm blossoms
to open like helium-filled party balloons?
Remember how you walked near
to smell the strong rosy scent
that could make you sneeze?
That was spring.
Reflections on the Teche 
What a beautiful poem, Margaret! I love how you used a mentor text, but altered it to capture your trees through the seasons. I’m especially fond of your first stanza and of tasting the summer breeze while swinging on a rope swing in the trees.
Wonderful repetition…tasting the breeze, peacans plopping into the bucket both add to the “remember when.” You sure do paint a lovely picture.
I remember! So beautiful to see the season marked by our interactions with trees… thank you, Margaret! xo
Beautiful poetry, and a wonderful prompt-inspiration.
Love the format of this poem! Thanks for sharing. Have a great school year!
Margaret, the mentor text allows me to smell summer and get closer to what it means to me but your poem highlights each season. It is filled with sensory detail and delight. I have been toying with the idea of gallery for all seasons and you surely captured that thought in your writing.
I love where you took your poem Margaret, weaving it from Summer and eventually into Spring–and what a wonderful simile this is:
“prompting firm blossoms
to open like helium-filled party balloons?”
Thanks!
I love the photo. Am taking my sphere with me when we leave for SoCal. And your poem. I really like the structure: Remember when.
The precise sensory details you’ve included bring your poem vividly to life. What is better than “tasting the breeze” from a rope swing on a summer afternoon? Well done, Margaret!
Your poem brought back wonderful memories. Wonderful poem, Margaret.
Great details, Margaret! Happy times…thanks for taking us there!
I love the way your poem uses both repetition AND the cycle of seasons. Great use of a mentor text! (Jealous of your three times to write, but not of being itinerant!)
Glad to hear you’re back in your element working with students again. No doubt they’re glad to be back working with you, as well! Your poem is glorious, Margaret. I’d have to say among your best. Thank you for inviting me to live each of these moments with you.