March | 2024 | Reflections on the Teche

Archive for March, 2024

Slice of Life: Diary of a Sunset Paddle

Posted in Celebration Saturday, Photography, Slice of Life, tagged Bayou Teche, canoeing, Holy Saturday, sunset on March 31, 2024| 9 Comments »

Inspired by Molly Hogan’s post, “Diary of a Maine Spring,” I am finishing the Slice of Life March Challenge with a diary of a sunset paddle on the Bayou Teche. I’ve lived almost twenty years on this bayou named “Teche” (tesh) for the Native American word for snake. Not so named because there are snakes (there are), but because of its winding shape.

With our busy lives, work, school, activities, dancing, grandchildren, we don’t paddle our backyard as often as we “should”. Saturday offered us a window of time and a perfect weather day, low 70’s and clear skies.

My husband steers the canoe. I sit in the front and paddle most of the time. He allows me, encourages me rather, to stop and take photos. He even pulled the boat closer to the shore to take a photo of the white spider lily which is blooming now. I’m glad you can’t smell the huge dead garfish that was also on the bank caught up in cypress knees.

I nurtured my inner peace (One Little Word ’24) for a few hours of the evening. I let go of all and let God show me Creation at its most beautiful. An Easter vigil, of sorts. A perfect end of a perfect spring day. A sure sign of resurrection and life.

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Slice of Life: The Age Thing

Posted in Writing on March 30, 2024| 11 Comments »

I wasn’t going to bring it up. But she did. In our long conversation in the Lowe’s Garden Center, we reminisced the days when our girls were young and going to a “sweet school” that will close its doors this year.

I didn’t want to talk about it. She said, “I’m feeling afraid. I’ve lost three friends in the last week. I just came from another funeral.”

I tried to hold back the tears. “I know,” I said.

She brought up her own ailments, a torn up shoulder, an aching back. I said, “Oh, no. You are younger than me.”

“I’m 62,” she said.

“Me, too.”

The age thing… I wanted to switch the topic quickly, but wasn’t sure how.

Then Suzy walked up and hefted a huge bag of dirt. “Can we help you with that?”

“No. I got it.”

Then Suzy talked about her upcoming birthday. On Easter Sunday, she will be 83.

I want to be hefting bags of dirt and building a fountain and taking care of great grandchildren. Suzie gave us hope in this aging thing.

Aging Elfchen

Age
ticks by
before you realize
a lifetime has flown–
Dance-on!

Thank you to Two Writing Teachers for creating an amazing community of writers and a safe, welcoming space to write and share.

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Poetry Friday: Elephant Pantoum

Posted in Photography, Poetry, Poetry Friday, Travel, Writing, tagged #Poetrypals, African elephant, elephant pantoum, Michelle Kogan on March 29, 2024| 13 Comments »

Poetry Friday is hosted this week by Tricia Stohr-Hunt at The Miss Rumphius Effect

Elephant family, July 2016 Tanzania, Africa

I was inspired by Michelle Kogan who wrote a pantoum for a hippo. I recalled the hippos of my Africa tour in 2016. I’ve been reading Margarita Engle’s verse novel Singing with Elephants. I collected lines from the verse and went to work on the pantoum form. This form is like a puzzle. Michelle fit hers together with rhyme. I didn’t use rhyme. When I googled pantoum, there doesn’t seem to be a rule about rhyme or line length. The rules show that each stanza is four lines with this pattern: (1,2,3,4) (2,5,4,6) (5,7,6,8) (7,3,8,1)

The Poetry Sisters respond to a challenge on the last Friday of the month. This month they are writing animal pantoums. Our host Tricia has more about the form and links to other Poetry Sisters posts.

The beauty of an elephant’s hum-hug,
a language as common as buzzing bees,
simple as spending time with kindness.
Elephants embrace us with their music.

With a language as common as buzzing bees,
I can catch good luck as it passes.
Simple as spending time with kindness,
these animals move like magical mountains.

I catch good luck as it passes:
Photo from Africa is a touchstone of memory.
These animals move like magical mountains
with a touch of heavy gentleness.

My photo from Africa is a touchstone of memory,
as simple as spending time with kindness–
A touch of heavy gentleness–
the beauty of an elephant’s hum-hug.
Margaret Simon, with thanks to Margarita Engle and PÁDRAIG Ó TUAMA.

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Slice of Life: Blue Dog Grammar

Posted in Gifted Education, Poetry, Writing, tagged Blue Dog, George Rodrigue, grammar on March 28, 2024| 9 Comments »

George Rodrigue was born in New Iberia, LA and is famous for the Blue Dog. I never met him, but our town celebrates him with a pocket park on Main Street. The Bayou Teche Museum acquired a display of his studio.

Our students will be touring an exhibit of George Rodrigue’s work today at the Hilliard Museum in Lafayette, LA. To prepare my students for this field trip, I shared the story of the Blue Dog and let them choose a work of his art to write about.

John-Robert chose a painting with a gravestone for Tiffany. We googled the words “Tiffany + George Rodrigue” and found out that Tiffany was Rodrigue’s pet whom he based the Blue Dog on.

Oh Tiffany
where have you gone
after all you’re right here

under That Lovely Cyprus tree
Why are you still hiding from me
I’m just A Blue dog

I go to the village
THEY SHUN ME AWAY
“Leave evil spirit!”

They see me and run
why
even when I adore the limbs of humans they run

So I have left to roam near only friend
to protect her in the stone box from them
all I want is to see her again no matter when

Oh Tiffany
where have you gone
after all I’m back from the hunt
so when is when
John-Robert, 6th grade

As a teacher of this bard, I hesitate to criticize at all. This is JR’s first and only year in my class. He has been writing poems every day in his notebook. None of them have capital letters or punctuation. When it comes to essays, I talk to him about the grammar choices he makes (or doesn’t make), but I still leave his poems alone.

I wish you could hear him recite them. He sounds like he’s reading from his very soul. I’m often left speechless. In my opinion, and I’m hoping it’s the right one, his creativity is a delicate thing. I want him to keep writing long after he’s been with me.

JR is my Emily Dickinson, writing far above my level of understanding. I think I will continue to leave him alone with his poems. He tells me he “knows” the grammar rules. He doesn’t know why he doesn’t use them. It’s as though his thoughts won’t allow for the crowding of periods and commas, capital letters, etc.

What’s an ELA teacher to do with that?

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This Photo Wants to be a Poem

Posted in Photography, Poetry, This Photo Wants to be a Poem, tagged #poemsofpresence, #smallpoems, Amanda Potts, milkweed, Ottawa, This Photo Wants to be a Poem on March 27, 2024| 54 Comments »

Amanda Potts on Instagram is @persistenceandpedagogy. She’s become quite the photographer on her daily walks in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. She posted this one last week of an open pod of milkweed seeds. I am waiting for my milkweed to sprout, but I’m worried that the freeze killed it.

Amanda’s photo stirred an emotion in me. Look for the light. These seeds seem to be glowing from the center. They have places to go, places to land, places to nurture our most precious monarch caterpillars.

Write a small poem inspired by this photo and leave it in the comments. Please encourage other writers with your responses.

Parachute on wind
gentle flight for precious gems
whirl to wake the world.
Margaret Simon, draft

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Slice of Life: “Whatever You Are…

Posted in Writing on March 26, 2024| 10 Comments »

be a good one.” Abraham Lincoln

If you are a biscuit,
melt in my mouth
like butter
leave behind a hint
of blueberry.

If you are a cup of coffee,
stay warm
steep a dash of vanilla cream
leave behind
a feeling of home.

If you are a poet,
write upon my heart,
give me stars to wish upon
leave behind
a question of who I am.
Margaret Simon, draft

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Slice Of Life: Holy Week

Posted in Spiritual Growth, Writing, tagged dark and light, Palm Sunday, spiritual reflection on March 25, 2024| 7 Comments »

I didn’t notice at first.
I made my morning coffee,
sat down at the table to write.
Then the cat mewed and scratched at the screen
and I saw it.

Pots over, crashed, spilled out,
a mess on the back porch.
The screen door ripped open.

I went out to right the pot and scoop
dirt back into it
and touched the scat.

This disaster was not cat
It was raccoon. Obviously, the hellion got in,
but couldn’t get out,
until he did.

I took a walk
in the cool morning breeze,
saw the blooming pollinators,
listened to the birds, and
collected 14 species on the Merlin app
while I watched the sun rise in the east, pink and yellow.

My morning prayer included Gaza and Kate,
all those in any grief or trouble,
then turns to gratitude for my abundance.

Life ain’t no crystal stair.
There is darkness,
a full moon,
and the valley of the shadow of death.
The darkest dark brings out the brightest light.

We gathered outside the church
to sing Hallelujah to begin
the march to the cross.
We find a way to physically see more clearly
that this path of life can
help us see the darkness, feel the anger, the threat
to our happiness, and just as swiftly,
lead us to sacred light.

I’m wishing you a most holy week.

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Slice of Life: The Horse Farm

Posted in Blessen, Books, Slice of Life, Teaching, tagged Lafayette Farmers & Artisans Market, Things to Do Poem on March 24, 2024| 9 Comments »

On Saturday, early in the morning, I set up a booth with two of my regional SCBWI friends. We offered our books for sale and some fun crafty activities for kids at the Lafayette Farmers & Artisans Market.

Middle grade novels and poetry books are not best sellers in this market. My friends who have picture books sold more than I did. But I didn’t care. It was a beautiful day!

When I saw a middle grade girl, I asked her if she would like to write a poem. She looked eager, so I gave her a card with a prompt from Bayou Song, a Things to Do poem. She did it! I told her she was the poet of the month and posted it on Facebook. Her mother recognized immediately that we were all teachers and said, “This is a magical space.” That comment and her daughter’s poem made every minute worth it.

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Slice of Life: Happy Birthday

Posted in Slice of Life, Teaching, Writing, tagged Amy Ludwig Vanderwater, music poems, The Poem Farm on March 23, 2024| 7 Comments »

Francisco from Argentina is spending some time in our little town. I invited him to teach some of our students about the instrument he plays, violin. He visited the school on Thursday for Multi-Cultural Day. To get the students engaged in the understanding of how music words, he used a most basic and familiar tune “Happy Birthday.” He asked them questions that led them to understand you first have a note, a sound, then a beat, a melody, but he also talked about how that song is so much a part of our culture that we all know it.

We all sang along. Everyone knew the words.

In her weekly newsletter, Maggie Smith wrote about how art can be synchronistic, that the universe crisscrosses and shows us something new. “Art begets art begets art.”

On Friday, Amy Ludwig VanDerwater posted a lesson and video on her blog “The Poem Farm”. She called the method for finding a meter to use in poetry “Tapping it Out.” For my students, this essence of how song influences poetry was inspiring. I was inspired, too.

Find your beat,

and find your sound,

sooner or later,

to your heart, be (it) bound.
Adelyn, 5th grade

James used the beats of the song “Happy Birthday” to create a sweet poem about friendship. Sing it with me.

If excitement cheers you

Everybody likes you

If nobody is like you

You still have friends too.
James, 3rd grade

My poem came from the beat of “I’m a Little Teapot”.

Looking at the raindrops falling down,
One on the windshield
One on the ground.
When I find my jacket, cozy warm,
I thank the clouds for their swift storm.
Margaret Simon, draft

Thanks, Amy and Francisco, for inspiring us to see the magic of a simple tune, how music is in our hearts everyday.

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Poetry Friday: Her Heart

Posted in Poetry Friday, Writing, tagged ekphrasis, student poem, writing group on March 22, 2024| 21 Comments »

Rose Cappelli is gathering posts today at Imagine the Possibilities.

On Wednesday, I met with “The Three Pecans” after school writing club. We walked from the coffee shop to a gallery to see a student art show. I introduced ekphrasis to them, writing to art. I prompted with instructions to either write from observation with description or to enter the art and write from that perspective. All three of us were surprised at how the art drew poetic lines from us. Our poems were deep. We enjoyed reading them to each other and discussing where the emotions came from.

Each time I write with others I am surprised and fulfilled by how quickly we become close and confessional, sharing some of our most vulnerable parts. Poetry is magical in this way, bringing hearts together.

I asked my former student Kaia if I could share her poem today. I was struck by her conversation with her own heart.

this heart i see

the heart that beats

right in front of me

speaking in tongues, that only i understand

i feel it with my hand

i hear it with my ears

but why are you aching, my heart?

who hurt you?

the questions i ask go in one thump

and out the other.

she doesn’t know why

her heart is aching.

i don’t know why

my heart is aching.
Kaia, age 14