This week we had a special visitor in my 6th grade gifted classroom. One of those serendipitous things about blogging and connecting with authors is exposing my students to real authors doing the work. Taylor Mali joined us on Tuesday. Prior to the visit, he sent a package of create-your-own metaphor dice. Here’s a link to order some. We struggled with deciding which words to put on our own set of dice. We made lists in our notebooks of concepts, adjectives, and objects. I’m glad we had a little struggle because we could ask questions of the master.
Jaden asked, “What is the difference between a concept and an object? Isn’t “father” an object?” Taylor was quick with the answer. He explained that many people like to write about their fathers and mothers in a metaphorical way, more like a concept than an object. He went on to tell the story of a student of his who wrote about their father as shattered glass. “I can still see myself in the shattered pieces.”
We shared our own metaphor poems and he offered feedback. One of the things he noticed in my students’ poems was the absence of their own lives. He talked about how poetry should be beautiful language, yes, but also should be the truth. He suggested ways that they could put more of their own life experience into the poems they wrote.
I tried this idea myself with a roll of my own homemade metaphor dice. The roll I got was “The past is a soft wind.” I was pleased that Taylor’s advice to my kids resonated with me, and I tapped into a true story from my childhood.
The Past is a Soft Wind
blowing wind chimes
in the old cypress tree,
ringing like a distant train
that left the station years ago.The year we drove to Morton, Mississippi
for Thanksgiving and gathered pecans
with great grandfather. We thought
he was 100 years old. He knew things–How to crack pecans in the palm of his hand
Margaret Simon, draft
and how many minutes from the engine
to the caboose. We stood together watching,
counting, waving to the conductor
who, as that red house rounded the curve,
always waved back.
I think metaphor dice will sustain us in poetry writing for the rest of this school year. Thanks, Taylor, for a wonderful, engaging writers workshop.
Taylor hosts an Instagram Live event every Monday night.
Reflections on the Teche 
Margaret, thanks for sharing your students’ experience with this. I am kind of in love with your poem… the title is so evocative, and I love the wistfulness of the memory and the train passing… art! xo
Oh, how I wish I could have joined you for this. So glad that your kids and Metaphor Dice are resonating for you. Your poem brings us to that time in your life and the richness of the details so I can see it….the wind chimes, leading to the memory. I would love to know what words you all listed on your dice. I am, as I think I mentioned, compiling elementary classroom resources for using these with younger ages. Have you read Kate Dicamillo’s Stella Endicott and the Anything-Is-Possible Poem? Metaphors are us and they are 2nd graders. I am so happy for your kids that they got to meet a poet like Taylor! Will you maybe share some of their poems? I would love to see early drafts and later ones. As Janet Wong has said often to students (of all ages)….why not make your poem different, you don’t have to make it better, just different and see what happens. (An encouragement to getting them to revise….).
Thanks to you, Janet for connecting me with Taylor. He was so engaging with the kids.
Margaret, thanks for sharing the responses he gave to their poetry and questions. It sounds helpful. I have enjoyed the Metaphor Monday posts I have listened to (always the recordings, as I’m sleeping during the live event). What a well-told memory of your childhood with your great grandfather, and a time when the past truly was a soft wind. Lovely.
Your time with Taylor Mali sounds fabulous, Margaret, and, like Irene, I love your poem, just a nugget from your life makes me smile. I have watched trains with one grandfather and loved the waving from the caboose. Your students must have been so energized by this visit, so lucky to have it and you to offer such marvelous experiences.
I love the beautiful memory you captured in your poem, Margaret. And how wonderful to have Taylor work with your students!
Thanks for sharing such a special memory, Margaret. I felt like I was right there with you.
Margaret, I love how you showed us a glimpse of your past in your poem. The details and imagery are lovely!
Sounds like a fabulous time for you and your students, Margaret! Your poem feels so reassuring and gives me a feeling of the steadiness and safety and wonder of your life as a child. Fabulous!
Whoaaaa, what a treat! I have enjoyed my Metaphor Dice in the past; maybe it’s time to dig them out again. I love that you can make your own now with your students! I think my favorite line of your poem is “We thought/ he was 100 years old. He knew things” –maybe he was and maybe he wasn’t; the uncertainty is so childlike. And detail of the pecans!
What a vivid poem about your great grandfather! Love it!
I loved the line “he knew things” and this whole poem, awash with memory. You’ve inspired me to find my metaphor dice. As always, I think to myself how lucky your students are!
I really enjoy Taylor Mali’s poetry. What a treat for your students (and you!) to spend time talking and learning about poetry with him!
Your poem has so many sensory details – I can hear the chimes, the cracking of pecans, the counting of seconds as the train passes. Thanks for sharing this with us today!
How fabulous is this! Taylor Mali visiting your classroom and giving your students (and, indirectly, you) feedback on their writing! I can imagine that making your own metaphor dice is a tricky thing…maybe I’ll order some to add to the sets I have. And yes to what Heidi said: time to get those dice out and play with them!
Wow! I can’t help it. I’m jealous. How cool to be able to share a conversation with Taylor Mali and your students. That learning will last a long, long time. How wonderful! And, I love the sound of wind chimes taking one “back” in time to memory. Grandfather, pecans, train….such story and beauty.