open invitation no. 59 at
Sharing Our Stories Magic.
You know how sometimes without any prompting from you a “memory” pops up on your phone, a photo that you’d totally forgotten about and most often, enjoy seeing again. Jogging a memory of another time and place. But I’ve noticed when it comes to flowers, the memories are a repeated vision of the flower I took a picture of yesterday. That happened to me twice this week. Blooming seems so miraculous and random and something we have little control over. It just happens. There is consistency in the blooming of a flower. They come back around again.
This week I took a picture of this amazing gladiola. I shared a small poem in response on my Instagram.
shows its gladiola heart
sipping summer sun.
Margaret Simon, #haiku #poemsofpresence
I found a similar photo in my phone album from a year ago. Last year during lock down when I was walking every day.
On Monday, I heard a call for poems from Kwame Alexander on NPR. He creates crowdsourced poems based on small poems people send in. This week’s prompt was from Maya Angelou’s poem “Still I Rise.” I wrote and sent in this small poem.
Still, I rise
with the sun
following a path
through watermint
where the scent
fills me.Still, I rise
to feel her gentle kicks
inside a waterwomb
knowing love grows
from my seed.Still, I rise
Margaret Simon, all rights reserved
to watch ducklings
drop to waterglory
following Mama hen
through fervent streams.
So I rise each day for a walk. I take photographs of flowers again and again. I will keep taking photos of flowers. Why not? They make me happy!
For now, I enjoy cut ones in a vase in the church hall.
Reflections on the Teche 