This prompt came to me in an email from Poets & Writers, The Time is Now. When my Inklings saw this poem, Mary Lee thought the prompt was surely In Gratitude by Abigail Carroll which was featured on this episode of The Slowdown. I love how the universe is like that sometimes, synchronous, speaking to each other. I join the conversation with my own ode to a single letter.
Ode to Letter M
But I love the M, mountainous-
hill-valley-hill-valley
signed with 3 fingers hugging a thumb,
the way milk-full infant fingers
grip my thumb and hold on tight.
I love the M handed down on grandmother’s tea towels,
embroidered like the sign of the cross
on my forehead. I baptize you in the name of
Margaret.I stand with the Roman numeral (M)
confident in her thousand mornings
musing on the mimicry
of a single mockingbird.Scent of magnolia fills the room
Margaret Simon
from the lit candle, like a warm May breeze
that blows homemade cards,
memories, and a rainbow handprint
identifying me
as Mamère,
as someone to love.
Reflections on the Teche 
Such a beautiful, personal ode to M. Filled with emotion and meaning. It’s hard to pick a favorite line or stanza, but I loved hearing about your grandmother’s tea towels. I have handkerchiefs of my mother’s embroidered with R.
This is a treasure, Margaret. Just beautiful. The handprints and your last three lines are heart-grabbers. Your 3rd stanza’s alliteration is just lovely, so well done!
a thousand mornings
musing on the mimicry
of a single mockingbird
This is a keeper. I thought at first just seeing the title of your post that maybe this came from Bridget Magee’s “Ode to J”in her new anthology Celebrating Ten in Ten Different Ways. Of course I am partial to J. So I was really happy to see other guides for this Ode writing. I had been thinking this would be a good set of exercises for me , AND I have just the perfect notebook to add them to!! This is a poem I would want to come back to in a book, to meander in its images, maybe wishing my name was Margaret, too.
Beautiful & nostalgic, Margaret. It feels like a gift to yourself, one you keep close. I love “3 fingers hugging a thumb”. Happy Thanksgiving!
Yay for M, Margaret! My “Jaunty J” poem is in good company. I’m partial to the ol’ “hill-valley-hill-valley” letter as it begins my last name, too. 🙂
A wonderful ode to the letter M. I really like the mountain description of writing it. I’ve always loved the feel of writing…so nice that you start with that. And, of course, Ma Mere is such a lovely way of being called grandmother.
The gentle slopes and valleys of the letter M grabbed my attention, Margaret. Then, you brought the reader to a place of nostalgia, finishing with the image of grandmother, Mamere, and child, Leo, at the end. This is simply lovely.
Beautiful exploration of “M” Margaret each verse gives us more– I loved the “musing on the mimicry
of a single mockingbird.”
And the hills and valleys too,
Thanks!
LOVE! Especially Mamère at the end! Ruth, thereisnosuchthingasagodforsakentown.blogspot.com