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Archive for September, 2024

Poetry Friday: Ten Ways of Looking at a Grandchild

Posted in being mamére, Poetry Friday, tagged , , on September 27, 2024| 17 Comments »

Poetry Friday is hosted today by Irene Latham at Live Your Poem.

This last Friday of September, the Poetry Sisters called out a challenge based on Wallace Steven’s Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird. I enjoy puzzling together ideas into poem forms. In the model poem, Stevens uses few words in each stanza to convey a single emotion or thought.

I became intrigued by the idea of looking at grandchildren, not a single one, but the idea of having a grandchild. I have three daughters, and have been blessed with 4 grandchildren, ranging in age from 5+ years to 21 months. Each of my daughters have had at least one miscarriage.

To write this poem, I started using sticky notes, I carried the collection around for a few days. It worked well for separating each one and arranging them into some logical order. Thanks to my Inklings’ honest feedback, I am ready to publish this poem here, but I’m not leaving it. I want to feel that it will grow as my grands grow and reveal more to me about this amazing journey in grandparenting.

Ways of Looking at a Grandchild

I.
Grandmother
Mother
Daughter
3 in 1
1 in 3
Egg to egg to egg

II.
Cut the cord
connection broken
New bond forever woken.

III.
Cells divide.
Divide again.
Sometimes there is no
heartbeat.

IV.
The way a mother looks
at her child with purest adoration–
A bloom of a flower planted
long ago.

V.
Golden curls,
crystal blue eyes–
Precious gems to hold.

VI.
Hand sign
three fingers
I
Love
You

VII.
One day she’s Ariel
another Anna, Batman, Spiderman—
always a fierce girl wonder.

VIII.
Whose eyes are these?
I think I know. I’ve seen them
from a portrait glow.

IX.
Whispers at bedtime
“Sing me the song you sing”
A grandmother’s lullaby.

X.
Curve our bodies together
and turn pages of a book,
We enter a magical place.

Margaret Simon, draft

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This Photo Wants to be a Poem: Chalk Art

Posted in This Photo Wants to be a Poem, Writing, tagged , , on September 25, 2024| 58 Comments »

My grandson drawing with chalk while we wait for our table at a restaurant.

I’ve long been a fan of chalk art. Years ago Betsy Hubbard led a weekly chalkabration in which bloggers posted chalk poems. I’m not sure why we stopped doing this.

Chalk art is temporary. Perhaps that is freeing to the artist, allowing for freedom from perfection. We know the next rain will wash it away.

There is an old Tibetan Monk tradition of making sand mandalas. “These sacred cosmograms are said to transmit different positive energies to the environments that they inhabit and the people that come to view them.” I believe this is true on a smaller scale with chalk art. The act of doing the art itself is meditative. And the viewer is pleased by the art’s energy.

Today I want to offer the form called “cinquain.” The form is five lines and follows the syllable or word count or 2, 4, 6, 8, 2.

Artist
patterns petals
with a stroke of his hand.
He walks away, letting his mark
spread joy
Margaret Simon, draft

Please leave a small poem in the comments and give encouraging responses to other writers.


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Slice of Life: Cooling Down

Posted in Slice of Life, Spiritual Growth, Writing, tagged , , on September 24, 2024| 4 Comments »

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

For multiple reasons, I had a rough week last week. On Saturday, I woke up early and went to a local farmer’s market to sell books and make “zines” with kids. It was really great fun, but hot! By the time I finished, I had not eaten or had anything to drink, so I went to my daughter’s house to cool off, literally.

Maggie and I started talking about my week and the day at the market. She suggested I pull a card from her oracle deck, “Mysteries of Love” from alenahennessy.com.

The card I pulled could not have been more perfect, literally and figuratively.

Today on Ethical ELA’s Open Write, the prompt was given by Larin, Thought You Should Know.

I wrote a poem to the Oracle Deck:

To the Oracle Deck (Snap Dragon: Cooling Down)

I want you to know
I’m trying to balance
will & ego,
soothe my inner fire,
but the system pushes
back again and again.

I want you to know
they say we have to move Mom
to skilled nursing. No! I shout
to you. This is not the path
I expected.

I want you to know
I tried to smile at everyone
I met in the halls at school.
I held onto a door handle
and did tree pose
just to test my balance.

I want you to know
how much I want to love
a puppy that chews my shoelaces
as I write this. If I stay cool,
will he stop and look up
with loving eyes?

I want you to know that no matter
what you told me on Saturday,
my will is fading fast
on Tuesday. I should pick
another card.

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Poetry Friday: Dot Day 2024

Posted in Gifted Education, Poetry Friday, Writing, tagged , , on September 20, 2024| 12 Comments »

Poetry Friday is hosted today by Linda Baie at Teacher Dance.

Monday, September 16th was International Dot Day. Dot Day was created by a teacher who wanted to celebrate the Peter Reynolds book The Dot. It’s a story about a young girl, Vashti, who doesn’t think she can draw. She is encouraged and inspired by a teacher’s confidence in her. “Make a mark and see where it takes you.”

This year I wrote Zeno poems with my students and encouraged them to create a Zeno Zine.

A zine is a foldable book that can be made with a single sheet of paper. See a YouTube video here.

A zeno poem is a form created by J. Patrick Lewis using the syllable pattern of 8, 4, 2, 1, 4, 2, 1, 4, 2, 1. The one syllables all rhyme. For me it works best if I decide on my rhyming word. I was thinking about the idea that you are never too old for Dot Day, so I chose old, gold, and bold.

When making your mark shine this bright,
you are never
too, too
old.
Remember who
creates
gold:
They are the ones
who live
BOLD!
@Margaret Simon

I also read aloud Laura Purdie Salas’s Dot Day poem.

A golden shovel poem using the line “a flashlight’s gleam. A full moon dream.”

Here are some sample zine pages from my students:

by James, 4th grade
by Avalyn, 5th grade
“Think creative. Be creative.
When you want to
make a
dot.
Maybe you could
use this
spot.
Or mix them up
in a
pot!”

Dot Day is fun, and for purposes of gifted standards, it also encourages creativity, critical thinking, and problem solving. Win! Win!

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This Photo Wants to be a Poem: Leaf-like Moth

Posted in Photography, This Photo Wants to be a Poem, Writing, tagged , , on September 18, 2024| 11 Comments »

For size comparison
Moth on the school wall

My colleague Erica knows I like to raise butterflies. After recess, she came into my classroom exclaiming “You Have to see this moth on the playground!”

My students and I rushed out to find it. At first it was poised on the brick post of the pavilion. Then one of them stimulated it with a stick and it flew to me. Fascinating large creature that is camouflaged as a leaf. Who knew?

With my students, we researched and found out that it was a Pandorus Sphinx Moth. I wrote a found poem from the information on the website Insect Identification. In this poem, each word in the poem comes from the article in the order it was found.

Playground Discovery

Hawk moth
boasts– robust
fast fliers on
aerodynamic wings.

The Pandorus Sphinx Moth
blending in
inside woodlands
at dusk or dawn.

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Slice of Life: Mississippi Book Festival

Posted in Books, Slice of Life, Writing, tagged , , on September 17, 2024| 4 Comments »

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

Who among us doesn’t love a good book festival? This weekend my husband, my hero, offered to drive on Friday after work so that we could attend the Mississippi Book Festival in my home town of Jackson, MS. We had plans to visit my mother, but the book festival started at 9 AM, driving late into Friday evening was necessary.

It was so worth it! I was able to see an interview with Kate DiCamillo who is always a delight. With Ellen Hunter Ruffin, who is a hoot in her own right, they bantered and kept the audience laughing. Kate was introduced by none other than Ann Patchet, who later joined her on a panel about friendship and narrative.

When a teacher in the audience asked Kate about themes in her books, she said, “I have no idea what the themes are. Forgiveness and family seem to be my preoccupations. Those things are in there unwittingly. The only way to tell a story well is to let your guard down. Be vulnerable.”

As a teacher, a standard that I hit my head on constantly is “identify the theme.” It is so interesting to me that theme is the last thing an author thinks about when writing, if at all.

Kate is a cheerleader for reading aloud. I’ve started reading her new book Ferris to my students. They can’t wait to read more.

Kate DiCamillo after signing hundreds of books. We could be best friends.

Authors are real people. They struggle, as we do, to make sense of the world and to do their best to mold and shape the lives of children.

I ran into a new children’s book author who I had met at the Fay B. Kaigler book festival in April. She joined me and Irene Latham for dinner one night, and we hit it off immediately. Fate and this festival brought us back together. Her new book is Trunk Goes Thunk: A Woodland Tale of Opposites. She was on a panel of children’s book authors. They talked about who they were and where their ideas came from. Heather was enthralled by a live cam video of a fallen log. She wanted to write a book about all the animals that travel the log bridge which ultimately leads from separate to together. If you collect children’s books, be on the lookout. It’s coming out soon.

Author Heather Morris and me at the Mississippi Book Festival.

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Spiritual Journey and Poetry Friday: Wholehearted

Posted in being mamére, Gratitude, Spiritual Growth, Writing, tagged , on September 13, 2024| 18 Comments »

Today is a dual post for Spiritual Journey and Poetry Friday. Ruth Ayres is our host for the Spiritual Thursday link up here. Heidi Mordhorst has the Poetry Friday gathering here.

Ruth chose the topic of “wholeheartedly” for Spiritual Thursday. When I looked up the meaning of wholeheartedly, I read “with complete sincerity and commitment.”

Due to the invasion of Hurricane Francine, I wholeheartedly jumped into protection mode. My daughter sheltered at our house with her two littles, Leo (5.5) and Stella (3.5). Combine that toddler energy with a 6 month old puppy and you get an equation of full on energy. We baked, we colored (Albert ate a few crayons), we read, watched a fun Disney movie “Brave”, and played and played and played. My daughter said to me as they took all the plastic containers out of the cabinet, “They never get bored.”

My teacher heart was happy when Leo wanted to write a book. We folded a zine, and he wrote and drew. It was fun so see him making the connection between letters and sounds and words. His first page read “Mat is soopr hro.” He couldn’t stop laughing when he decided that Mat would sit on a pear. I loved seeing his face shine with pride.

I’m happy to report that Francine came through with little fanfare here in the arch of the boot, New Iberia. She skirted by to the east and only dumped rain and some leaves and branches. My grandchildren have learned about earning cash for chores, so they happily helped pick up sticks (a penny a stick) and swept cypress needles off the deck.

This post is neither very spiritual or poetic, but I felt I should post something. There’s a reason I didn’t write much while my children still lived in our home. I am wholeheartedly a mother and now a grandmother. I wouldn’t change a thing.

Leo and Stella show pride in their baked banana bread.

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This Photo Wants to be a Poem: First Responders

Posted in This Photo Wants to be a Poem, tagged , , on September 11, 2024| 10 Comments »

From National Geographic, Kids

I don’t usually choose stock photos for this poetry prompt; however, today I am listening to the downpour that is the early bands of Hurricane Francine, and I can’t help but think about the helpers. Today is the 23rd anniversary of 9/11. I am not with my students to do any kind of lesson due to our weather. I always struggle with teaching on September 11th. To me it is a day that changed everything. I can remember our fairly innocent and carefree life before. This scene is poignant. Firefighters running toward disaster. That is what helpers do.

Take a few minutes today to remember. Then write a small poem in the comments. Depending on power and internet, I may or may not be able to respond. Try to respond to each other.

Our collective history
is marked by single moments–
a gunshot that kills a president,
a footstep on the moon,
a plane crashing into a tower.
We are moved and changed forever.
Remember the helpers.
Thank the helpers.
Be a helper.
Margaret Simon, draft

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Slice of Life: Student Inquiry

Posted in Gifted Education, Slice of Life, Teaching, tagged , , , on September 10, 2024| 4 Comments »

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

I teach gifted elementary students. I think of my classroom door as a revolving one because students from grades 2-6 come in and go out all day long. Two weeks ago I brought in some Gulf fritillary caterpillars in a butterfly net. I placed them on the table and invited my students to ask questions.

This is Marifaye’s sketchbook neatly written with her 5 questions and the answers. (Not all notebooks looked this neat.)

Students gathered around the table and drew what they saw, asking question after question. They became enthusiastic yet frustrated that I would not give them a straight answer. They practiced using Google to research and answer their questions.

This week the caterpillars eclosed (hatched) and once again we observed and drew pictures then released the butterfly.

Danielle, 2nd grade, wrote a sentence. “This is my drawing of a Gulf fritillary. I drew a vine with a flower.”
James wrote a fib poem about the butterfly. (We talked about using more specific vocabulary than words like nice and cool.)
Gulf
vine
flowers
butterfly
a fritillary
flying through the beautiful sky

I don’t always have nature at my fingertips to lead inquiry with my classes. This was a wonderful way to introduce the idea that asking questions and wondering are all part of the process of learning. And releasing was just pure Joy!

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Poetry Friday: Next Time

Posted in Poetry Friday, Writing, tagged , , , on September 6, 2024| 19 Comments »

Poetry Friday is hosted today by Buffy Silverman.

This month Mary Lee Hahn challenged the Inklings to write after Joyce Sutphen‘s poem Next Time. Sutphen’s poem has a dreamy quality to it, that if-only-I-could-do-it-again thought process. I was drawn to her lines “Next time I won’t waste my time on anger…Next time, I’ll rush up to people I love,
look into their eyes, and kiss them, quick.”

I write about grief a lot. Why is that? Grief settles after a while but is always there waiting to be released again and again. It can be set off by a song, the familiar sound of a bird, or my grandson saying “I want to Facetime Pop.” We have to remind him (at age 5) that Pop died. When I sent this poem to fellow inkling Heidi Mordhorst, she said, “You write again and again about grief because you are still learning exactly this.”

Abby Wambach said recently in “We Can Do Hard Things” that she has made friends with her grief. “grief has become a friend to me, in that I am developing a real true relationship with it, because it’s the access point to all of the most intense feelings that I feel, the most intense sadness, the most intense anger.” So, here I am again and again, writing a grief poem.

Next Time

after Joyce Sutphen

I’ll avoid the cut grass
where the snake eggs lie.
I’ll check the mailbox for menacing wasps.
Next time I’ll be wary
when the cat calls to me
in mournful mews.

Next time I won’t stray
from the well-worn path.
I’ll acknowledge wisdom of ancestors
who learned, felt a spiritual guide.
Who denies their purpose?

Next time I’ll read the book
start to finish, underline passages
in pencil, notes in the margin.
Next time I’ll know death comes.
It will not surprise me. Gut me.

Next time I’ll answer the call
on the first ring. I’ll be there
by your side, holding your hand
in mine. I’ll let love keep its promise,
be my purpose.  

Margaret Simon, draft

Photo by Robert So on Pexels.com

Linda @A Word Edgewise
Catherine @Reading to the Core
Molly @Nix the Comfort Zone
Mary Lee @Another Year of Reading
Heidi @my juicy little universe

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