For National Poetry Month, Molly Hogan and I committed to a flexible schedule of writing different forms of poetry, but I insisted on a weekly space for writing to a photograph. While out on my walks these days, I may open the Notes app and hit the microphone to dictate a poem. Yesterday while I walked, I contemplated the Ethical ELA prompt from Jennifer Jowett to write from an ungrammatical stance making nouns into verbs. See her prompt here. I observed the trees along my path, and spoke the words, “When I tree.” Then I saw the shadows from an overhead street light. Shadows are intriguing. I took this photo.
Broken Dawn
When I tree,
Margaret Simon, draft
bayou-bell’s song echoes in me.
Yellow twinkle of sweet olive scents
my breath. Legs ache
from last night’s climb.
Turn to eastern broken dawn.
Please leave a small poem in the comments and respond to other writers with encouraging words. Are you poeming daily this month? Here is a safe place to play with words.
The Progressive Poem is with Rose Cappelli today at Imagine the Possibilities.
Reflections on the Teche 
You’ve captured the feeling of becoming a tree, Margaret, with so many senses. The photo is beautiful and brought out the little girl in me who never missed an opportunity to hop-scotch.
Shadows
On my way to school
I pause
to hop-skotch skip
through branches
leaves
birds
bees
with a song in my heart.
Lovely, Rose! I’m particularly fond of using shadows (in life and in poetry) as tangible objects…I love how you’ve captured a little scene with such brief and clear imagery!
Love hop skotch skip 😊
Thanks, Patricia. I realize when I opened this up again that I misspelled “hop-scotch.” Too early in the morning, I guess.
I thought you cleverly did it on purpose. I think skotch skip is terrific!! I remember hop scotch so fondly and love how you have added nature and that song in your heart to this delightful poem. Yes to hop-skotch skipping our way through the day!
I love the time spent skipping through this nature-filled web!
Love the image of hop-scotching through the branches.
Oh, that sweet girl hopscotching through the shadows sounds precious. I love that you don’t just see shadows, though, you see the leaves, birds, and bees among the branches in the shadows. Lovely!
I love the hop-scotch skip, and the short list at the end gives it a little “hop.”
A carefree childhood moment… movement- running, jumping, hopping, skipping- kids take joy in moving
Oooooowwwww……(rhymes with too), love this new way of thinking and writing. I checked the link and was able (so gratefully) get something down quickly. Hope to continue to play with this approach.
When I poem
loudly pen
quietly paper
gladly word,
I red write.
I happy play.
I spider think.
I gently grace
webbed lines,
blue thinking,
notice tangled branches,
who deftly song
onto my unsung
page.
Janet Clare Fagal, draft 2023
Janet, I love where you took this idea! This is wonderful!
Thank you, Carol. It was one that just flowed. (Makes me what is going on in my brain today, but I am not complaining!!!)
This is wonderful, Janet. I especially like “loudly pen, quietly paper” and “spider think.” Great images.
Thanks, Rose. I was amazed with how these came to me. I hope to try again.
Janet, wonderful! I kept coming back and reading how you did that while I wrote my poem. I want to experiment more with this too. “I red write” is fun!
Oh so glad it helped. I did look at the link to Ethical ELA and that poem helped me. But somehow it just clicked. Sometimes I am lucky !!!! I want to continue this style and see where I can go with it. There has to be a happy place between vision and communication and poetry and dreaming. Thank you, Denise.
mouth agape…you had me at “when I poem”
❤
Thanks, Patricia.
I’m so happy you ‘reserved’ a day to write from the words that came to you, and your visual noticing and photography—I look forward to it each week. I committed to writing one poem (at least) per day in April, and while I began with the left-hand tracing exercise (SO interesting!), I’d decided to write at least one poem a day in response to, and for, my brand new grandchild (which is why we’re in NYC for 6 weeks). And for me, when I set a minimalist goal, I generally exceed it, and have been writing other NYC-related poems too. I love National Poetry Month!
I wrote this is response to your Etheree post:
THE DAY BEGINS WITH DALIA
eyes
sapphire
deep and dark
wells of wonder
darting, following
mommy, daddy, grampa
while gramma, poet, watches
wonders along with you, sweet one
what dreams swirl inside on your birth day—
you grow a tiny smile, blushing sunrise
Ahhh- blushing sunrise. Congratulations, Carol.
Margaret, I know my poem doesn’t fit today’s suggestion…I actually latched on to the question about writing everyday and my mind latched on to the new little one…That seems to be where it is this morning!
This is pure delight and I feel her newness and your joy in my soul. “What dreams swirl inside on your birth day”gorgeous. Are you on fb, Carol? I am posting about what I do with learning poems by heart for my NPM sharing. You would love to take a look because I talk about reciting (reading works, too) poems to newborns. I have done it a lot. They glom on with those fixated, deep, dark, sapphire eyes, it is a golden opportunity. They love it. Frog by Mary Ann Hoberman is liked as is Stopping by Woods, truly a favorite. And it has lasted now 7 years for grandgirl #1. Enjoy your wondrous time.
Hi, Janet—yes, I’m definitely on FB—I’ve tried to find you, but am at a loss:your name there, or link?
Our son and daughter in law have been reciting poems to Dalia from Day 1 (feeling so lucky in them!), and I am going to check MAH’s Frog. Funny thing about Stopping by Woods (which I’ll send them): the day she was born I wrote a funny poem (posted on my FB page) to the rhythm, at least the beginning rhythm, of Stopping by Woods! : )
I froended you, fyi!!
Carol, congratulations on this sweet bundle. “you grow a tiny smile, blushing sunrise” is gorgeous. I love the title too.
Thank you, Denise! “Sweet bundle”…she is.
I love how you grabbed the Etheree form. Wells of wonder!
Thanks, Margaret!
From one new “gramma, poet” to another – Soak up those Dalia days!
Oh, I will….I’m so grateful to be able to be here in NYC for 6 weeks, but can’t bear the thought of leaving. No desire to live here (used to)…
in my mind
It is not a blur
It is not cobwebs
it is not slow motion shadow
It is not dust and distant whispers
in my mind
you live
I like how this photo took you to a completely different place.
Yes, my thoughts are similar to Rose’s, you took a leap-and landed my to you, in your space.
And in our minds, so much chance for delight, reflection, wonder, hope, love and more. Think about our children and their minds which we don’t often share in, unless they let us in. Our internal lives…..so critical for who we are, what we write, what we do, how we live. I love where your poem took me, Patricia.
Patricia, that person you thought of when seeing that photo is visible to me too through your words. “Not slow motion shadow” Beautiful.
I’ve been thinking a lot about my father lately because he died in April last year. In my mind, I can still see him, hear him, know him. Thanks for this poem.
Thanks for this intriguing challenge Margaret, your looking-inside poem, inspiring shadow pic, and the link. I really like how the yellow weaves into your poem!
Here’s a try playing with noun as verb…
TINGLING INVITATION
When I starlight
magic seeps in.
Muted moment shapes and
moss-twinkling crescents transform.
Paynes gray universe inside-outs,
calm comes closer,
beauty highs din
We begin…
Michelle Kogan, draft
Michelle, I love the nouns you chose to ‘verb’, and the images they create! Beautiful.
Wow, Michelle, your poem is as beautiful as one of your paintings. “moss-twinkling crescents transform” is my favorite.
Love the first lines as magic seeps in!
the opening line is so inviting! loving this approach to verbify nouns 🙂
Love “when I starlight”
I agree with Rose…it was a touching and beautiful surprise.
Michelle, Yes to Tingling Invitation. You, I believe, nailed it!! You also had me at “when I starlight” oh what a phrase. Wish I had written it. I am so into this new to me idea. Lovely poeming.
When we streetlight
we hide-and-seek
the dark away.
We run flash as lightning
and mournful our play when
Mom calls us in.
I love this reminiscence of outdoor play during childhood. “Mournful our play” is a great line.
Margaret, isn’t that something that the idea of “I am tree” can bring out such richness in our thoughts and poetry. I love the aching legs from climbing, and “Turn to eastern broken dawn.” Beautiful poem.
This concept was tough for my students to really get a handle on. But one of them did an amazing job!
When I butterfly
loudly drink
carefully flap
quietly soar
I sleep tree
I nector drink
I Mexico watch
I fruit eat
love soaring
my song
monarch
colors bright
I paint the earth with color
and joy.
Avalyn, 3rd grade (She used Janet’s poem as a mentor text.)
Oh my goodness. I have known but this shows you have a poet right there, ripening, nestling, poeming. Please share that I am honored my poem helped. And that I love how she paints the earth AND THIS PAGE with color and joy. Bravo, Brava, Bavissma, Avalyn. Congratulations on your wonderful poem once again, just keep writing. You know I was once a 3rd grade teacher for many years, Avalyn, but not enough. I know the powerful ability of certain kids your age. Oh to be able to write as you do when only 8 or 9 years old. Terrific!!!
From Janet F.
Avalyn’s joy is all over these words!
This is so amazing…I am inspired by all of these poems to play around with them during the next days! I can just picture a 3rd grader reading this aloud!!
Beautiful, Avalyn!
Avalyn, wow! This is gorgeous. I love the images you have painted of the monarch. “I paint the earth with color / and joy.” Wow! Well done.
Very interesting shadow photo. I imagined a kaleidoscope on your walking path this morning.
fragments of darkness
along the garden path
morning kaleidoscope
lights my way
Leigh Anne, I like the image of the kaleidoscope you saw in the photo. Yes, this kaleidoscope has “fragments of darkness” and yet, it “lights my way” Super!
When my heart shadows
I remember
At the same time I light
For no shadows appear
Without the light
Such good wisdom.
Denise…when we streetlight…..boom back to childhood instantly. Love when we hide and seek the dark away. This is terrific. I need to look back at the Ethical ELA link to see if this is a “form” with a name. I, too, hope to see if this verb-noun switching will lead me to another poem.
Margaret,
Finally time to talk about your poem inspiration, photo and poem! When I tree……wow. the photo of the leaves, the shadow of the reality. I am so glad you shared the ethical ELA post. It has grabbed me. I can see you adding more stanzas! You left me wanting more. Thank you. This really drew so many great responses. And the colored scents. I need to grab your book and read more about your life on the teche. I am wondering if we take a poem we’ve already written and try it this switcheroo way, what we might come up with. Like When I ballet or When I bicycle.
[…] today I’m sharing a poem I wrote this week in response to a photo from Margaret Simon on This Photo Wants To Be a Poem. When I was little I was one of those kids who always found ways to hop-skip-jump through things […]
The way you play with sounds especially struck me in this poem. It reads beautifully aloud! Amazing how the move to the ungrammatical can be so freeing, can unleash new word play, can shift how we see the familiar.
When I hive, an orderly pause redirects my symphonic ear tones ,
Mood lifts with flutter of wings
Hum of Bee-ing ,
My spirit honey gold.
Phyllis McLaughlin Nauman 4/12/23