This week’s photo is from my student Brayden. Over the weekend I got a text from his mom. First came the photo. Then she wrote, “Brayden took this picture and wants to write a poem about it.”
I think my eyes welled up. I won’t go into the whole history of Brayden for privacy’s sake, but this felt like a turning point to me, not only in his writing life, but also in his relationship with me (and all things School). What teacher wouldn’t want a student to look at a beautiful sunset and think about poetry? It’s a first for me.
Sunset glow
Margaret Simon, draft
Traffic flow
I hope you know
I’m coming home.
Please leave a small poem in the comments. Try to respond with encouragement to other writers.
Reflections on the Teche 
I’m so happy for Brayden’s turning point, for you his teacher and his mom to get to witness it. I’m actually home today and going on a field trip to a book festival. Will be thinking of this photo and poem possibilities. The word “flow” in your poem is perfect.
Brayden’s interest in poetry is such a lovely gift to you, Margaret. I like how you included the traffic flow in your poem. That was one of the first things I noticed about the photo, too. I imagined Brayden staring out the window of the car on the way home. I think we were on the same wavelength.
sky blush
interrupts the rush—
home
Lovely Rose, how perfectly succinctly your poem captures that rush-home feeling, thanks!
Oh, the blush in the rush. We all should stop and notice.
Six perfectly chosen words!
Ah, a sweet poem with a lovely rhyme and a succinct message. It makes me think of the times when I want to pull over and soak up the moonrise when it is that huge peach orb just coming over the horizon. And the gorgeous sunsets that I rarely am able to see from my home’s location. Blush/rush, wonderful, Rose.
Yes, I have pulled out my camera many times to capture a sunset in progress. Your small poem reminds me of that, especially when the car whizzes onward.
A touching time for all. Thank you to your student for sharing his joy with this photo.
Sunset Sends a Message
Nature bursts, our eyes
watch blue become pink, then gold
sky-art rewards our hearts
Janet Clare Fagal
@draft, 2022
Love the idea of “sky-art” and the rewarding treasure there, thanks Janet!
Love “sky-art”.
Another cheer for “sky-art!”
Sky-art – yes it is.
I, too, like sky-art but also was taken by the title, Janet.
I like how you captured the whirl of traffic in your poem Margaret. And how special to receive that email from your student’s mom—it really must have filled you up! Thanks for sharing all, and perhaps you’ll be able to share Brayden’s poem.
Color so much on my mind caught my eye first…👁
dusty burnt orange
tinge-toned cerulean blue,
signs off and slips out
©️Michelle Kogan draft
“slips out” as sunsets tend to do. There one minute, gone the next.
That last line is so perfect!
Yes, Michelle! That slipping away and signing off, and oh how we want it to stay. Reminds me of a Frost poem! Nice to get to see such color-glory in the sky.
Slips off-Yes, in your short poem, you share the fleeting nature of a sunset, Michelle.
All else blurs
while the sunset
makes her magic
I love learning about this turning point for both you and your student. That’s what it’s all about (to quote the famous dance tune! 😉
MaryLee, I love your use of “blurs”. Sunset = magic, indeed. And today we have some terrific sun and some great tree color already. Heading out soon to go and take a few photos of that natural glory. It is beautiful to know a student is enamored enough to photograph that sky moment.
Yes! Nothing compares to the magic of a sunset.
Love the word blurs and makes her magic, Mary Lee.
Margaret,
If I had received that email I would know the joy you must have felt. Sometimes when teaching I would feel a little, maybe down or maybe wishing something more grand would happen or whatever, because in the past every once in a while a kid had done or said something so sensational, it made me do the happy dance in my heart. So when these things happen, it is simply the best of the best. So glad you were able to incorporate this into today’s This Photo prompt. A blessing.
I echo the warm sense of appreciation and awakening from Brayden. A blessing indeed. And all these lovely poems of sun slipping away, traffic rush… thanks to all.
Pink glow
Sinks low
Sparks of hope
Go rolling by
– draft… Karen E
Lovely!
Such a positive short poem – sunset does sink low, Karen.
I like how you just “brought it” Karen. 10 words!!! And those sparks of hope, I think nature does that for us if we pay attention.
Rolling hills
Silhouettes of dancing trees in the distance
Golds and lavenders swirling through the clouds
But the picture doesn’t show
The white steepled church that sits in the distant field
It’s slate Rouff and Steingass windows
The red bricks of its outer walls
The posts missing from its fence
Around it’s graveyard
Moss covered tombstones
dating back to the 1800s
There’s surfaces sandpaper worn letters and numbers
Some with Oval shaped ghostly photographs under glass
Our ancestors at rest
Servicemen and millworkers in factory workers in
store owners and carpenters
And they column in everyday men and women and children
In the footsteps that led to that church for worship on Sundays
The singing of the choir and the ringing of bells
And the lighting of candles during holidays
In the cows and the sheep’s and the goats and the pastors’ fields along the way
In the little red barn houses in brick and white farmhouses
In all of lives stories in between
Beneath the brilliant-colored sky and across the wooded fields
Within this photograph oh what stories left to tell
Poem by Jessica Bigi
I can see all of that in your poem, Jessica. That photo just swept you up!
Jessica, your imagery offers peaceful vision “of what stories left to tell”.
Jessica, I can tell that this faded or shaded photo of the sky took you on a trip back in time and the images you saw made your remember so many details. Kind of reminds me of some of the Grandma Moses paintings I have seen. All those rich details help bring me there with you.
Margaret, it is so exciting that Brayden turned a corner – every teacher’s dream for their students. The photo is lovely and is your short poem. Traffic flow is a line that reminds me of every photo I took while my husband drove.
magical moment
sunset gifts earth
in muted hues
as it descends
into darkness
earth finds rest
©CV, quick write
Oh your last line, Carol. earth finds rest as do we but that last spectacular beauty to hold in our minds’ eye, to reflect on and think of its magic, the power of the earth to hold us up and help us despite the times when earth reminds us of her power. And sunsets are gifts we should try to appreciate every time we can. Lovely.
Thanks, Janet. Sunsets are gifts, indeed. When we traveled to Cape May this summer, we went to Sunset Beach to see the sun set over the quiet water. A gift is a lovely name for this beauty.
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