This month, National Poetry Month 2023, I’ve been following the prompts on Ethical ELA, a virtual treasure of inspiration. But I keep writing about the same thing over and over. My father, my mother, my own role as a grandparent. I think when we write condensed lines, we push our deepest thoughts up to the surface. I’m trying to let that part of me flow where it wants (or needs) to flow. This week I’ve written two of these kinds of poems to #VerseLove. Prompts can be found here.
If you want to be a poet, I highly recommend joining in with #VerseLove. Just like the hashtag says, it’s all about love. Each day that I write, I feel wrapped in the arms of other writers, tenderly cared for. Putting your writing out there into the world is hard and intimidating. Finding a caring community is rare and special. Like the community of writers at Two Writing Teachers, the teachers at Ethical ELA have become my friends. I am grateful to all the writers there, especially the ones who seek out my writing amongst many and comment like wind beneath my wings.
I am saving my poems in a Google slide show which allows me to save each slide as an image and share it here. Above is a photo of my father and my granddaughter Stella in the summer of 2021.
Today’s Ethical ELA prompt was given by Jessica, a self-identifying cinquain.
I am a Grandmother
Altered
Margaret Simon, draft
state of being
fertility startled
by faces of me reflected
in you.
Reflections on the Teche 
I am loving and pondering your line “fertility startled…”
And perhaps you have already dont this, but your powerpoint slides of poems and photos are perfect preparation for your self-published anthology…
PS thanks for the encouragement to all us poets out here!
Aren’t you sweet to think of a self-published anthology. Being Mamere will be the title. Ha! We’ll see. Thanks for the encouragement.
Love your wonderful lines today…Indeed “grandmother” feels like “an altered state of being”…it feels ungraspable right now—it is a feeling I haven’t found words for. But how it feels is “this is how it is now, and how it should be.” Thank you for your words.
I am in love with the idea that my womb produced my daughters who have given birth to 4 beautiful beings. It’s absolutely incredible!
Yes…and for us, to see our son a loving and completely involved father is extraordinary and powerful.
Margaret, I’m so glad to come back and reread your poem with the photo of your dad and Stella. I can’t imagine better topics to be hooked on writing now. I, too, vote for a book of poems.
Oh that picture truly touches my heart and can feel the emotions that I, too, experience as a grandmother. Wish I had been more active on these sites during April. It’s been incredibly busy, but reading your work inspires me. Thank you!
Oh, that picture, those faces, those words. What a treasure!
I love rereading these poems and the celebration of grandchildren. I also know that there is no shame in writing of the same things over and over. We have a need to remember and savor what we value in life. It’s an expression of gratitude. A praise for the love-gifts. A praise for the gift of writing, even. Heaven knows I write about the same things over and over [insert drifting finch feather here]. Your words about the Ethical ELA community are true and I feel the same. Know what a blessing you are, Margaret!