I don’t often join the Poetry Sisters challenge, but I felt this month’s was within my reach: a tanku which is a tanka in conversation with a haiku. I recently attended a workshop, Write Bites with Georgia Heard and Ralph Fletcher. Georgia’s writing prompt was to write about a word. One suggestion she had was to have a conversation with the word. That draft led me to create a tanku around one of my two words for this year.
Believe
What do I believe? Remove my rear view finder Need a reminder– blinders to understanding, “I don’t believe you heard me.”
I say to the wind; It says, “I believe in you. That’s true, you will see.”
Happy New Year! Today is the Chinese New Year and this year, 2025, is the year of the snake. I am totally afraid of snakes. I even find it hard to touch a photo of a snake. But this year I’m trying on a new skin, a more brave stance toward the scaly beasts. What are they good for?
At a recent art show, I saw this sculpture from nature. Can you find the snake skin? It is fascinating that snakes get to shed their skin in order to grow and change. Snakes symbolize transformation and creativity. How can we as humans “take off our skin” and begin again?
I was reminded of the cherita form in a post yesterday and wanted to offer it for today’s writing prompt. Simply put, a cherita tells a short story in stanzas of one line, two lines, and three lines.
What are your hopes for 2025? What skin do you need to leave behind? Explore with me in a small poem.
Hidden in a bramble of dried prairie grass
A single snake skin looms empty, translucent, urging me
To believe* in the possibility of creative transformation and strength. by Margaret Simon, draft
Thank you to Two Writing Teachers for creating an amazing community of writers and a safe, welcoming space to write and share.
As I was driving to school this morning, I wondered if the snow we had last week was all part of a dream. Every time I saw something white, I turned my head. Is it snow? No, there are still white sheets covering plants (ghosts of snowmen) and litter of white plastic (ghosts of snow drifts). But our temperatures are back to normal southern winter, 40-60 degrees, and there are few signs that last week we were covered in snow.
My students were so eager to write about their experience last week, a historic snowstorm. Most reminisced about the snow-people they built. Some wrote a Slice of Life without my prompting. I spoke with a colleague whose students were similarly inspired to write.
Kailyn described her snow-person: “Let’s talk about what my snow woman was made out of. Her eyes were flowers from my mom’s office, her nose was obviously a carrot, and her lips were a jelly belly sour pucker lip. She wore a Mardi Gras scarf, quickly changed to a light up necklace along with a coffee cup in her hand. We stuck a branch of leaves in her head for hair.”
Carson’s mother sent me a photo of him making a snow angel.
Carson, 3rd grade, makes his first ever snow angel.
James, 4th grade, wrote an I am From poem about a photo I posted of a Cajun Snowman.
I am from The winter breeze I am from wearing jackets I am from The chilly snow I am from Drinking hot chocolate I am from Making snowmen
I encouraged my grandson, Leo, to create a journal page about the experiences we had together. His writing is coming along, but most of all, I’m excited that this is something we can do together. You have to love his signature.
I hope all of our children remember this experience, but we know it will fade, as the snow has faded. I decided to create a photobook for our family. No one seems to do photo albums anymore, so with a photobook, I can remember alongside my grandchildren, who are probably too young to remember. Maybe they will. The magical wonderland of Narnia. Our own time warp through the wardrobe.
Author Phil Russotti with his granddaughter Stella.
Phil Russotti sent me copies of his 3 Stella books because I am the grandmother of a girl named Stella. It was quite a coincidence to find out while reading his books that his character, Stella, has a brother named Leo. How can that be? When I read the books to Stella, my 4 year old granddaughter, she decided to change all the names to match her friends’ names. I think she believed the story was about her. And why not? In the books, the character Stella does all kinds of magical and fun things with her family, friends, and magic wand. She can even fly on her pet bluebird. The books are full of fun fantasy. My Stella feels special that she has books with her name in it.
Phil co-wrote the books with his granddaughter. I imagine doing that someday with my grandson, Leo, who is becoming quite the artist. This grandfather/granddaughter duo took the extra hard step to publication. I was curious about the process, so I sent Phil some questions.
Tell us about the book:
The first book “Stella in Paris” was conceived by Stella and myself during the Pandemic. We were living together for safety reasons when one day Stella said to me, “Grandpa I was thinking that I went to the top of the Eiffel Tower and waved my Magic Wand and the virus went away all over the World. “
I said that was a wonderful thought and a great idea for a story and we started developing the book. It was her idea that she got the Magic Wand from the Tooth Fairy and that she flew to the top of the Eiffel Tower on her pet bird, Mr. Tweet Tweet, her trusted companion. We then decided that Stella could do more helpful things and conceived of the London and New York books.
Why did you write it?
Stella’s initial idea was born out of her reaction of fear and incomprehension of what was happening with the spreading virus. Which I assume all children had. But her solution had a positive and powerful message of empowerment that I realized could serve as a lesson for young girls that they could conquer any problem if they put their minds to it. We then ventured to other locales to show how a young girl could solve problems all by herself and help people.
Tell us about the writing process or collaboration. Did you discover anything new about yourself as a writer?
The collaborative process was accomplished by me coming up with the basic story (ie. saving a whale that got caught in the River Thames) and asking Stella questions to which she supplied the answers to flush out the story. Such as “Where should the next book be based?” and she came up with London. I asked why would she go to London and she said that once the pandemic was over, people would want to travel, and it would be natural for someone in Paris to travel to London. So she went to London to meet new friends. When I asked if she took the Chunnel from Paris to London, she said, “No, I would go with Mr. Tweet Tweet.” We just proceeded from there, question by question and she filled in the details.
I discovered that I could engage in fiction writing, which is something I had never done, and in fact, I didn’t read fiction. It was a growing experience for me to help create stories.
Who was the book written for?
The books are written for young girls to see how powerful they can be and how they can solve any problem they put their minds to. They are books of empowerment.
Could you share an example or excerpt for the audience?
In London when the whale inadvertently broke her Magic Wand, Stella had to figure out how to fix it. She came up with asking another woman, the Queen of England. When she met the Queen, she bowed and then said, “You’re welcome, but please Your Majesty can you fix my Magic Wand?” The Queen exclaimed ,”I’d be happy to”, and told Stella to hold the pieces together. The Queen then picked up her giant scepter and waved it over the wand saying, “Whippety, whoopity, whopp, Wand Wand come together!” and the wand was fixed better than ever. Two women solving the big problem together!
This week has been weird. Weirdly wonderful. Here on the Gulf coast, we had a snowstorm that broke records all the way back to 1899. The snow fell all day on Tuesday and shut down the whole area for two days. Businesses opened up on Thursday, but we haven’t gone back to school. Our water systems are not built to handle this kind of weather and single digit temperatures, so water pipes have burst and water pressure is down. In Coteau, where one of my schools is located, they cut off water for 12 hours. But my students and my grandchildren have had a blast!
I can’t stop writing about it. On Tuesday, the Ethical ELA Open Write prompt was introduced by Erica Johnson. You can read the full prompt and lots of great poems here.
Enzo Blizzard 2025
It wasn’t until I walked in the snow that I discovered snow is wet. In the movies, actors never seem bedraggled.
And now as a historic blizzard pours down snow, I remember my rain boots in the dusty box, dig out the snap-on hood for the coat, and place a towel by the back door.
And yet, snow is silent surprising me with a steady fluttering rhythm of soft white flakes.
I know this phenomenon is unreal, ethereal, a moment I want to keep in a photograph to cherish and hold.
Margaret Simon, draft
The back of our house in the snow. photo by Maggie Simon LeBlanc.
Acadiana in Louisiana has gotten a rare, historical snowstorm. Cajuns all around are reconnecting to their Canadian roots and building snowmen. This one was posted by a colleague at my school, Alice Suire.
It’s still bitter cold here, so the snow is sticking. Another snow day! For those of you not familiar with French, the word couillon means fool.
Snowman Elfchen
Snowman On truckbed Rare Louisiana snow Old family traditions reinvented Couillon
Margaret Simon, draft
Please leave a small poem in the comments. Respond to other writers with encouragement. And stay warm!
Thank you to Two Writing Teachers for creating an amazing community of writers and a safe, welcoming space to write and share.
I woke up this morning to snow, snow, snow! That may not be so unusual for those of you in most of the country, but to us in South Louisiana, this never happens. It’s never happened in my 42+ years of living here. The prediction was for 4-8 inches, and I believe we have reached the higher mark. I’m sure it’s a problem for some because our systems are not prepared for this, but I’m enjoying all the texts of photos and videos of my grandchildren. I’m staying warm and safe.
Here’s a gallery of photos:
Downtown New IberiaMardi Gras snow queenLive oak Bayou Teche
Winter Storm Enzo Pantoum
Flakes of white flutter in the wind as snow layers over green. Festival of inches is a historical event– One hundred years before snow returns.
As snow layers over green, dim light shines on bayou brown. Will snow return in a hundred years? “This snow is awesome!”
Dim light shines on bayou brown; Old boots from a dusty box I found. “This snow is awesome!” The world stops, watches, and listens.
Old boots from a dusty box I found stomp in a festival of inches, a historic event, while the world stops, watches, and listens as flakes of white flutter in the wind.
Last week I read Rose Cappelli’s post. She decided to write a poem each month using her One Little Word. I have actually picked two words: Still and Believe. I’ve been determined to train my puppy Albert “Al-Bear”. He is an 11 month old miniature golden doodle with a lot of energy. He’s been developing some bad habits. One of them is barking at us when he wants to play. I bought a collar with a vibrator on it, so I can give him a little buzz (remote control) every time he barks at us. It’s working…slowly.
I receive a prompt each week from Kelly Bennet called News from the Fishbowl. Last week she introduced me to a form I hadn’t heard of, Shadorma. It’s from Spain. There are 6 lines with a syllable count of 3, 5, 3, 3, 7, 5. The topic can be anything, but usually the poem is all one sentence.
Puppy Training
I believe this puppy can learn to be still to cuddle warming my cold morning lap– blending our perfume.
The full moon greeted me on a frigid morning this week. I don’t think Iphones are great at taking moon photos. This photo with its automatic longer exposure blurred the cloud cover creating an interesting effect, don’t you think? I know I’ve featured moon photos here often. Like ocean view photos, I never tire of the peaceful feeling of a full moon, especially the bright light on a cold morning.
Dawning Wolf Moon
Moon’s perfect circle holds me in her gaze. Her royal crown welcomes dawn.
I look up and belong to her still space. In her light, I find my footing.
Today as I write, I am thinking about word choice. The last line has a few scratches in my notebook. The choices were: I belong to the night I become myself I see light that welcomes me
There are many choices when writing a poem, and I am never sure which one is the right choice, and perhaps they are all good. How do you decide what words to choose? What makes a final draft? Is there really such a thing?
Join me today in writing about the moon (again) or anything else that is needing to be written. I offer a safe place where you belong.
Poetry Friday is hosted today by Kat Apel. with a fun poem about cats and dogs.
My students have gotten off with a rocking (and sometimes rocky) start to 2025. I have become re-committed to giving them notebooking time and prompts to consider. When they get to “poem-ish” on their notebook page, they often turn to the good-ole acrostic. In fact, I asked them yesterday to tell me why they like that form so much. “It’s a curse,” one student piped up. “Everybody’s got it.”
This response made me laugh. The curse of the acrostic. Perhaps it’s also a crutch, a form they can depend on. When I looked closer at some of the poems they had written, though, I found some thoughtfulness as well as expression of emotion. It may be a curse, but sometimes it works.
Avalyn chose a quote that used the word Glow and wrote the following poem in her notebook.
Get up and Love your freedom, or love someone. Wisely understand that you are a free bird. Ignite that flame of love. Never let your wings be pierced, Gone, broken, or enslaved. Avalyn, 5th grade
Just started on a New Year An arctic blast is happening Nature makes trees bare Under the weather limit All of us have jackets Runny noses You are frozen. Everybody is frigid. by Carson, 3rd grade
I presented Mary Lee’s poem from last week and wrote my own notebook page about the prompt “What wisdom do you yearn for?”
Where is wisdom hiding? Illusive Search for Definitive understanding Overcoming the overwhelming Melancholy Margaret Simon, draft
When you are looking for a way to enter your daily writing, try an acrostic. You may surprise yourself.
Margaret Simon lives on the Bayou Teche in New Iberia, Louisiana. She teaches gifted elementary students, writes poetry and children's books. Welcome to a space of peace, poetry, and personal reflection. Walk in kindness.
Reflections on the Teche 