Today is the first day on National Poetry Month and already the communities I am tapped into have connected with a map. For the first day of our Kidlit Progressive Poem, Tabatha Yeats has offered a map and a line to get us started on our monthlong journey.
At Ethical ELA, Sarah Donovan offered a prompt “Landscape of our Lives.”
The poetry book sitting next to me is “Map to the Stars” by Adrian Matejka. I am sensing a theme emerging.
My poem today is in response to Sarah’s prompt.
Bayou-Side
Inside me there is a sycamore,
a tall pine, a draping grandmother oak.
I can draw a map from Purple Creek
to Bayou Teche.
I’ve spent a lifetime walking near water
watching for herons, turtles, and honeysuckle.
When it’s time for me to leave this land,
place me in a boat without a motor.
Let me float for eternity.
(Margaret Simon, draft)
Reflections on the Teche 