Summer means the Summer Poetry Swap which is coordinated by Tabatha. I’ve already received two poetry gifts, and it feels like summer just began.
The first poem I received came from Laura Shovan, a dear poet friend and author of The Last Fifth Grade of Emerson Elementary and Takedown. Laura sent sourdough starter, a whimsical pen, and this poem.
My second poem came from Buffy Silverman. Buffy and I have never met, but I have enjoyed her poetry for years. What delight to open an email from her with this image and beautiful poem about wild iris, blue flag!
This week Linda Mitchell and I teamed up to provide prompts for Ethical ELA. This site by Sarah Donovan is a wonderful place for teachers to write and receive positive feedback. I enjoyed being a part of the community this week. The poetic responses were amazing! Here is a link to the 5 Day Open Write.
I wrote two poems in response to Linda’s prompts. The first one was a list poem. I had a receipt marking my notebook page. My oldest daughter is having a girl (Yes!) in November. At a local children’s store, I bought the first thing for this new one, a newborn gown.
For the Little Ones
Margaret Simon, draft
Shorts
Shirt
Gown–> NB
white silky soft
edged with pink stitching
to welcome
a sister
now growing
day by day
a girl to embrace
a girl to bless
a girl to love
The second prompt from Linda came from Linda Baie’s prompt in Laura Shovan’s Water Poem Project, to write a fiction poem. I took some quotes from my weekend with my kids and built this scene.
Heat
Margaret Simon, draft
What is it about the 90 degree mark
that turns a sunny day into fire
burning you through to the bone?
They didn’t speak in the heat;
Their brains thirsty, wrung out
beyond droplets of sweat,
couldn’t fathom anything worthy of saying.
He handed her the phone,
clicked play on a video of animal faces,
noses in particular, that made her smile,
despite herself. She didn’t bother
to ask why.
Humor finds its way into the cracks
of relationship, beneath the surface
of burning skin to release toxins
from the crease of a smile.
Reflections on the Teche 
Wow! There’s so much to love here, Margaret. I’m especially fond of your final poem. I think you knocked that prompt out of the park! I love “Humor finds its way into the cracks/of relationships.” What a productive week you’ve had!!!
Four beauties here, Margaret. I can’t pick a favorite! Thanks so much…
Love all of these poems, Margaret, and how you found inspiration on a shopping list. Perfect! Congratulations and thanks for sharing these lovely poems.
Thanks for sharing Laura’s and Buffy’s poems, the first about tangy yeast, which I love, and the second about the life of a flower. And congratulations on your baby girl to come. Your poems express so much joy.
High five to you, friend. Wonderful poems in this post. You are rich in poems and poetry friends.
Thanks for sharing my poem, along with all these other beauties (where did all that patriotic, militaristic imagery come from? Who knows–don’t think I realized what I wrote until I just reread it!)
Love the poignancy of Laura’s poem. And especially that final stanza of “Heat”–what would we do without humor right now?
Congratulations on the newest grandbaby! You’ll have so much fun spoiling a girl!
I love how you took bits of reality to make your fiction poem. The old advice is true no matter what the format of the writing: keep it real even if you’re making it up!
What fun gift poems! I adore all kinds of iris and I just said to AJ that we bought up all the yeast we could find but still haven’t made bread. To which he replied, “Yet.” Amen to that. Hooray for YET.
All of this is so wonderful! Great swaps, and I love the creative summer you’re having! Ruth, thereisnosuchthingasagodforsakentown.blogspot.com
Your HEAT poem burns with vision, and your last stanza is so powerful–and humor some how peers out…
How exciting a new baby coming… and lovely poem
“white silky soft
edged with pink stitching”
Thanks also for sharing your poetry swaps from Laura–her lovingly weathered poem and sour dough starter. And Buffy’s journey with “Blue Flag” flowers.
What a wonderful week of poetry treasure – from your letterbox, and from your pen. I love your take on the ‘crease of a smile’. However it happens, smiles and laughter do help and heal. I can taste/smell Laura’s delicious bread, through her poem; her hands. And what imagery Buffy carried through her military poem. Clever poets! (Also, baby girl.💗)
Thanks for sharing both wonderful swap poems and, I imagine, the first of many new granddaughter poems. The images in Heat are so imaginative – thirsty brains, humor in the cracks of a relationship, toxins released from a smile’s crease (how true!).
Congratulations for that coming granddaughter, Margaret! What a Christmas you will have this year! Your post is a wealth of poems today, the swaps & your own made me think and smile! Have a good rest of the weekend!
What a bountiful post!! Yay for gift poems and granddaughters!
A granddaughter! Congratulations, Margaret! And thank you for sharing your poem swap poems–gifts for us, too! I love your poem for your granddaughter, and your heat poem made me grateful (as I am constantly reminded) that people can choose where to live, and that I hated living in Florida because of the heat. Even Minnesota’s too hot for me right now!