Welcome to Day One of the 2023 Slice of Life Challenge. This challenge occurs every year during the month of March. Writing every day is good exercise for a writer. This challenge is sponsored by the Two Writing Teachers, a blog site for writing teachers. They post essays about the teaching of writing, but in March, it’s all about the teachers themselves who understand that being a teacher who writes strengthens the teaching of writing. We are a community of peers. Comments are welcome and encouraged. Comments are the sideline cheers for a marathon runner.
I decided for Lent this year I would read a page in the Bible and then write. I’m not committed to sharing each of these journal scribblings, but I’m starting off today with one.
I have been with you wherever you went and have cut off all your enemies from before you, and I will make for you a great name.
2 Samuel 7:9
Azalea Lane
I have planted you
in the clay soil of Louisiana.
Most of the year, like Persephone,
you are perfect, leafless, waiting.
You look dormant, dead, but
on the first day of March,
you blossom
and shine
like a pink sunrise
opening,
opening,
opening,
saying to the world,
“I’m here!
I’m wonderful!
I’m beautiful!”
I welcome March, a month of transformation from winter to spring, transformation through the daily practice of shared writing. Thanks for reading.
Reflections on the Teche 
Beautiful… the poem and the azaleas!
Both you and I are celebrating the wonderful beauty of spring as we start this writing challenge. I find comfort in knowing you and I are thinking alike. I am so glad we are both in this writing community. Be sure to read Kim’s post!! We are in her photo!!
So beautiful.
As I look at the icy remains of yesterday’s ice storm, your poem reminds me that the promise of spring is already real. I’m also reminded to look for your inspiring poems during this SOL CHallenge!
What a lovely way to begin March
Kevin
Any type of flower or flowering bush certainly has the power to transform. We won’t see azaleas until May, here in the Northeast. Your poem was a feast for the heart and this picture is a feast for the eyes. Thanks for sharing!
I like your approach to writing – a model to follow – and these words are so invigorating. Thanks for the inspiration. Looking forward to more from you this month.
Wow! That azalea is stunning and feels so foreign compared to our white-washed scenery! Also, transformation is a great theme for the month that lies before us. Happy Writing!
Margaret, I love your approach here. The Bible verse and the noticing of beauty and writing about it. Those azaleas are stunning. Ours have not opened yet in middle Georgia, but I was in Savannah over the weekend, and theirs are open and dressed in vibrant gowns like yours. Beautiful!
Oh! Azaleas! Already! I love the pop of this poem and the verse of its inspiration. And the photo might be making wonder, not for the first time, why I moved to Canada…
What a beautiful poem and flower. You blossom and shine like a pink sunrise – perfect description! The tree in the background also caught my eye-very interesting. What kind of tree is that?
Leigh Anne,
I looked again on my walk this morning. I think it’s a crepe myrtle covered in Spanish moss.