I am hosting the Poetry Friday round-up today. Please join by placing your link using Inlinkz at the end of the page.
Today is the monthly gathering of Sunday Night Poetry Swaggers posts. This month Heidi Mordhorst challenged us to write a farewell letter to our students. We finished out the official school year 2 weeks ago, but truthfully, our school year ended on March 13th.
My emotions have been so torn by the pandemic and recent protests that I am unsure how I would talk to my students about it all. And then once again Naomi Shihab Nye’s Kindness crossed my path. That poem always moves me. “Before you know what kindness really is,/ you must lose things.” I decided to take a striking line for a golden shovel.
When I use another poet’s line to create a poem, I feel that poet is somehow writing alongside me. There is comfort in that. However, from the decision to write a golden shovel to the poem I am sharing, I’ve started and stopped many times. I am still not sure it’s what I want to say, but it’s getting there. I plan to mail both poems to my students as a way to say goodbye.
Dear students, we were together one day, then
pandemic stay-at-home made it
hard to know what is
good and real and right. Our only
idea of kindness
included a drive-by party that
makes
sense,
but may not comfort you anymore.My only
Margaret Simon, Golden Shovel draft
hope is you keep kindness
in front of all that
worries you. Focus on what ties
you to others. Hold on to your
ability to walk in someone else’s shoes
and
empathize with a character who sends
you into their world. You
can make a difference out
of your choices. Lean into
what you know is good. Be the
best you can be every day.
To see other Swaggers’ letters of farewell:
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Reflections on the Teche 
[…] Simon at her blog REFLECTIONS ON THE TECHE is hosting this weeks Poetry Friday roundup, thanks Margaret! Margaret is sharing a letter, golden […]
This line in your post is so lovely and why I really enjoy writing golden shovels. It’s shared work. “I feel that poet is somehow writing alongside me. There is comfort in that.” After seeing how much poetry is a part of your learning and teaching, I know your students will appreciate your words, keep them and grow from them. Thanks for hosting this week. It’s sure been a week.
I love that quote too, Linda. Perhaps that’s why a golden shovel is always extra special!
Thank-you for hosting – and especially for sharing this beautiful poem, Margaret. I’m sure your students (and their parents!) will treasure it. So much to love in poetry and advice;
keep kindness
in front of all that
worries you. Focus on what ties
you to others
And I feel I could have said that last line myself – how many years have I said it to kids? Be the best you can be.
Thanks for sharing your moving, golden shovel letter poem Margaret, perhaps it will help bring both connection and closure to you and your students. I was very taken by your closing lines:
“You
can make a difference out
of your choices. Lean into
what you know is good. Be the
best you can be every day.”
Thanks also for hosting the roundup!
I love that poem and what you written ‘alongside’ as you said, Margaret. Your students will feel comforted I’m sure. Like Michelle, I love “Lean into what you know is good.” By having you as a teacher, I suspect they know what you mean and will ‘carry on’ your words. Thanks for hosting!
Thanks for hosting! I can’t wait to read around the roundup this week. My only contribution will be the July-December roundup schedule. 🙂
Oh, Margaret–that is so beautiful and so you! What a gift for your students. Hugs to you and them. Thank you for hosting!
I can imagine how difficult it would be to say everything you want to say in this letter, but Kindness is always a great place to start! I hope mailing these poems offers all of you some closure.
Margaret, I think your opening to your Golden Shovel Letter poem is the right way to start-“then/pandemic stay-at-home made it/hard to know what is/good and real and right.”
It is honest and genuine. I think your students will appreciate that you too were affected by the turn of events. As others have mentioned, I also liked “You /can make a difference out/of your choices. I am sure your students will be touched by this gesture of kindness, a letter from their teacher. Enjoy your time with your grandson and daughter.
What a lovely example of this special poem form and what a gift for your students!
[…] Swagger Margaret Simon is hosting the Poetry Friday Roundup today at Reflections on the Teche. Read what she’s saying goodbye to there, then visit our partners in poetry to read more […]
A poignant and touching poem. I’m sure your students will appreciate it. Thanks for hosting this week!
Thanks for hosting, with such a touching, heartfelt poem, Margaret! I’m sure your students appreciate it.
[…] be able to share a few thoughts on Monday or Tuesday. Until then, for more poetry, head on over to Reflections on the Teche, where Margaret Simon is hosting today’s complete Poetry Friday roundup with a poetic letter […]
Thank you for hosting Margaret. A most heartfelt farewell in an academic year unlike any of us have experienced. Your poem/letter assumes the guise of a gift and its significance will resonate across time for your students.
Thanks for hosting and for sharing your heart with your students and us, Margaret.
[…] made mention of Poetry Friday. This is it! Today the round-up is being hosted by Margaret Simons at Reflections on the Teche, with an exquisite letter to her students, in the golden shovel format. At the bottom of […]
Margaret, thank you so much for hosting and for your beautiful golden shovel. I love your thoughts about the form: “When I use another poet’s line to create a poem, I feel that poet is somehow writing alongside me. There is comfort in that.” Your golden shovel is so rich with honest emotion. Beautiful!
[…] Simon is hosting the Roundup at Reflections on the Teche. Be sure to check out the full menu of poetic goodness being served up around the blogosphere this […]
You and Naomi made these lines something useful and kind to your students, Margaret. This piece–
keep kindness
in front of all that
worries you–
I hope will remind them (and us) to keep kind to ourselves, too, as we all embark on an unavoidably wrenching, enormous task, which for me is to finally address that other pandemic out in the open.
Margaret, thank you for this poem and for hosting this week. If we could all, “keep kindness in front” of everything, the world would be a better place. I pray it is so, sooner rather than later.
Oh, Margaret, I understand how hard it was to not be able to say good-bye to your students in person. My husband teaches high school and my middle daughter was a first-year teacher and didn’t get a chance to say good-bye to her fourth-graders (other than a later drive-by/good-bye parade.) So hard for everyone. What a lovely and poignant poem you’ve written, and I’ve always loved Naomi Shihab Nye’s “Kindness.”
Thank you for hosting, Margaret. You share your own feelings in your poem, which is such a gift for your students as well as your message of kindness. “Hold on to your ability to walk in someone else’s shoes.” So important.
[…] Posted on June 5, 2020 by macrush53 Thanks to Margaret Simon at her blog, Reflections on the Teche […]
[…] is Poetry Friday. This week’s round-up is hosted by Reflections on the Teche. Thank you for hosting! I find it funny that I chose the word bayou to use in this poem, publish it […]
What a gentle, wise gift for your students, Margaret. They will surely save both poems and will be guided them, you will be alongside them as Naomi is aongside you. Thank you for hosting. I wish you a restful and good summer. xx
This is a great way to say good-bye to your students. I’ve been touched by some of the actions by my son’s HS teachers (he is a senior). It will be important for your students to know you are thinking of them, as you already know. Thank you for sharing this and thank you for hosting!
There’s something very special about ending this year with writing a poem to your students. I’m sure this poem will be saved in many homes. Thanks for hosting. Enjoy your grand boys and your summer!
Thank you for hosting, Margaret, and for your emphasis on kindness and writing a lovely poem for your students. I have decided to repost my SJT offering as I am at a loss for how to respond in a better way today: https://kceastlund.blogspot.com/2020/06/hope-is-thing-that-sings.html
Thank you for sharing and for hosting! This was so hard to write but maybe I’ll find the courage to share with my students.
Thank you for hosting today, Margaret. Naomi Shihab Nye’s poem has always moved me, and the lines you’ve chosen for your Golden Shovel are perfect for these scary days. The poem you’ve crafted around those words is full of the love and hope you have for your lucky students.
[…] Simon over at Reflections on the Teche hosts Poetry Friday this week. She shares a golden shovel poem about kindness that she wrote to say […]
Naomi Shihab Nye’s poem is, indeed striking, and so is yours. What a lovely way to bid good-bye to your students in this strange and difficult time. I love the golden shovel form–and kindness is more timely now than ever.
Thanks for hosting, too.