nature | Reflections on the Teche

Archive for the ‘nature’ Category

Poetry Friday:

Posted in nature, Poetry Friday, Writing, tagged #EthicalELA, #poemsofpresence, ancestors, Bayou Teche, Nature poems on September 18, 2026| 1 Comment »

Today is the first day of Open Write at Ethical ELA. Today’s prompt was offered by Mo Daley.

Mo asks us to consider our place in the world, where we are, and who may have come before. I went to one of my favorite topics, the grandmother oak in my backyard.

I am also thinking about the upcoming Write Out from the National Writing Project in partnership with the National Parks. The theme this year is “Where We Stand”. Please consider writing outside this fall between Oct. 11-25, 2026. There are many student resources available.

Grandmother Oak

To enrich this earth,
I have planted my feet
in the solid arms
of grandmother oak planted
three hundred years ago.
Chitimacha women prayed over the sapling.

I do not wish to escape
her history
scarred into her flesh.

Let me feel it, stroke
her old skin worn
and strong—single survivor.

I praise her hold
of the sunrise
where I rise
to be blessed.

Grandmother oak with Bayou Teche beyond.

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Poetry Friday: Notes on a Walk Along Paris Avenue

Posted in being mamére, nature, Poetry Friday, Writing, tagged #beingmamére, gratitude on August 14, 2026| 13 Comments »

Poetry Friday is hosted today by my dear Inkling friend in Maine, Molly Hogan at Nix the Comfort Zone.

This week I celebrated my 65th birthday with my family on Tuesday in New Orleans. I have been babysitting my youngest grandchildren, June (3.5 years) and Sam (13 months) while my daughter and son-in-law work. The kids are adorable and exhausting, entertaining and a physical work-out, especially Sam who is climbing and into everything.

My favorite moments include nightly story time. June squeezes in next to me on the glider. Sam loves holding the book and babbling like he is reading along.

Yesterday while June napped, I took Sammy out in the stroller. He is happy being outside, even in mid-90 temperatures.

Notes on a Walk along Paris Avenue, New Orleans.

As the stroller passes, a squirrel leaps
to the next oak, blue reflections in its tail
as if the sky was caught there, unaware.

The baby hums along with the breeze,
a song dancing in his head.

Echoes from the neighborhood school garden:
”Clap, Clap, Clap! Listen!”

A Little Free Library opens
at the hummingbird house.

Bright pink Crepe Myrtle blossoms
canopy overhead, the only flower that blooms
in this heat.

My heart rate matches time with sidewalk bumps. Baby babbling softens as he sleeps.

Margaret Simon, draft

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Slice of Life: Sitting with Nature

Posted in nature, Slice of Life, Writing, tagged #bayoulife, Bayou Teche, black bellied whistling duck, wood duck nesting box on July 28, 2026| 12 Comments »

Black belly whistling ducks gather at the nesting box.

We’ve been waiting for a clutch of black bellied whistling ducks to hatch from our wood duck house. After the hatching in June, Jeff cleaned out the house. I requested that he leave it open in case we would get another mother. You leave it, they will come. And sure enough on June 24 or so, the new mother began sitting.

On Sunday, I noticed the little bee patterned babies hatching in the house. (We use a Ring doorbell camera, so we can watch from the phone.) On Monday morning, I opened the app to watch the baby ducklings climb up and jump out. Similar to wood ducks, the whistlers also jump 24 hours after hatching.

Unfortunately, the camera stopped recording. Low battery. We have a solar panel that charges the battery and Jeff supposed that since the trees are full, the panel doesn’t get as much light. What a time for the battery to fail!

After my coffee, I perched outside to watch the Jump Day festivities.

The whistlers gather around. There were four of them whistling and carrying on. I waited.

While I waited a beautiful blue heron flew by.

Great blue heron flying over the bayou.

Finally, one of the ducklings jumped out. Let’s call him Eager. The mother soon followed and more babies jumped. I counted seven total.

Interestingly, the mother and father ducks chased off the other whistlers that had gathered. The couple alone led the ducklings.

Mother and Father whistling ducks look for safety for their brood.

Eager, the little rogue, jumped in and paddled off on his own. Father went after him.

Eager duckling swims away from his family.

I’m afraid that was my signal to go inside and let nature do as nature does. I don’t know if Eager was reunited with his family, but for the sake of a happy ending, let’s say he was.

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Slice of Life: Summer on the Bayou

Posted in being mamére, nature, Slice of Life, Writing, tagged #bayoulife, Bayou Teche, grandchildren on July 14, 2026| 10 Comments »

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

Today, I am featured in an interview with picture book author Joyce Uglow on her Substack series uGROnews. Please skip over to learn more about my process in writing What’s That Sound? Birds of the Bayou.

Our bayou life has slowed to the rhythm of summer. Because of the longer days, we were able to feed our hungry grandchildren, then head out for a jaunt on the bayou. Stella at age 5.5 likes to say she’s scared, but we encourage her with reminders like “Once you’re in the boat, you will have fun!” She doesn’t like the process of getting in. The canoe wobbles. Each time gets a little easier. This Sunday evening, she climbed in without crying. Her older brother Leo acts as an expert.

Loading up the canoe for a summer evening paddle.

I followed in my kayak. I am no expert at kayaking. I go slow, slow, back and forth. My arms tire out pretty quickly. Apparently Leo got worried about me. He said, “I want to go back to get Mamére.”

Kayak selfie with Leo, Stella, and Papére in the canoe.

That was sweet, but I was fine drifting about and enjoying the scenery. Later I showed Stella this photo and she said, “I didn’t see that!”

Perspectives are different. They were probably most concerned about seeing the alligator that our neighbor said was lurking about.

I’m happy we can play on God’s playground in a boat on the bayou.

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Poetry Friday: Dead Tree is Alive

Posted in nature, Poetry Friday, Writing, tagged #poemsofpresence, Field Guide, Georgia Heard on July 10, 2026| 11 Comments »

Poetry Friday roundup is with Jan at Bookseed Studio.

I can always count on Georgia Heard for getting me through a writing slump. She sends out a monthly prompt calendar. Each prompt is easily accessible from where I sit at my kitchen table. The prompt for July 8th was “Describe a place by what’s missing from it.”

My gaze went directly to the window to the dead satsuma tree outside. We lost it in the big freeze of 2025. I’ve asked my yard man (my husband) to let it be. I was hoping to attract downy woodpeckers. In the spring passion vine sprang up around the trunk of the tree. As I had hoped, the space has become alive with bees and butterflies and birds.

Dead Tree is Alive

With passion vine
open purple flowers
for fritillary lighting.
A suet feeder invaded
by raccoon fingers
lies open and empty.
Old satsuma leafless
sweet fruit a memory.
Lichen clings, fluffs in misty rain.

You are holding hope
of feathers
on bare branches,
Alive.

Margaret Simon, draft

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Poetry Friday: Summer Walks

Posted in being mamére, nature, Poetry Friday, Travel, Writing, tagged #poemsofpresence, New Iberia City Park, Pacific Northwest, Port Townsend on June 26, 2026| 14 Comments »

Poetry Friday Roundup is with Tricia today at The Miss Rumphius Effect.

A Walk to Port Townsend

I hear
chirps of Pine Siskin hiding in the bushes,
watch seeds of cottonwood
fly like moths on fluffy wings—

Hold
the view of Pacific waters chanting
over wishing stones, calling me
to inhale.

Open
a door
to a free poem-of-the-day—
Here is Pádraig’s “Our Lady of the Garden”.

Thank you, universe, for all this time with you.

Poem found in a poetry box in Port Townsend, Washington.

This Mamére has been busy this summer. In early June, we took a trip with two of our three daughters and their families to the Pacific Northwest. The weather was absolutely gorgeous and cool. I found poetry everywhere, on trails, in town squares, and in poetry boxes.

This week I was in charge of Leo, my oldest grandson who is seven. Seven changes everything! He can read and write and walk 2 miles in the heat. We took a long walk to our local city park. He humored me by helping me write a poem about our walk. He illustrated. You can see a video of him reading the poem on my Substack.

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This Photo Wants to be a Poem: Beach Storm

Posted in being mamére, nature, Photography, This Photo Wants to be a Poem, Writing, tagged #poemsofpresence, #smallpoems, Florida, Sandestin beach, This Photo Wants to be a Poem, Travel on June 17, 2026| 4 Comments »

I am currently in Florida on a work trip with my daughter and her son, Thomas. Thomas and I had a fun day yesterday playing in the waves and making friends in the hotel pool. He makes friends so easily which is helpful to his babysitter grandma.

Yesterday afternoon a storm rolled in. I loved sitting on the safe balcony and watching the clouds.

Watching the Storm at the Beach

Becomes a pastime
when you’re with a grandson
who craves your constant attention.

Be open to the possibility of storms.
Stand in the rain
and let it cool your body
into shivers and shakes.

Then return to a warm bath
and Spider-Man pajamas
to watch Argentina play
in the World Cup
cheering them on, only because
you like the color blue.

Margaret Simon, draft

Please consider writing a poem today in the comments. I will be driving back to Louisiana and look forward to reading them.

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Poetry Friday: Magnolia Mindfulness

Posted in Gratitude, nature, Poetry Friday, Writing, tagged #poemsofpresence, Ethical ELA, Louisiana, ode, poetry on May 22, 2026| 15 Comments »

Poetry Friday is hosted today
by Carol at The Apples in my Orchard.

Last weekend I participated in the Open Write with Ethical ELA. Erica Johnson’s prompt “Talk about Trees” inspired me to praise the state tree of both of my home states, Mississippi and Louisiana.

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This Photo Wants to be a Poem: Red-eared Slider

Posted in nature, Photography, This Photo Wants to be a Poem, Writing, tagged #poemsofpresence, #smallpoems, Bayou Teche, haiku, This Photo Wants to be a Poem on May 20, 2026| 3 Comments »

My morning walk these days takes me through our local City Park that skirts the bayou and also nestles a pond where there are rumors of a lurking gator. This little guy, about 12 inches or so, had his nose in the air and was totally still, allowing me to come close for a photo.

I like turtles. I love to see them lined up on a log sunning themselves. I was researching a poetry book a few years ago and discovered that turtles often ramble up on the top of a gator without a care. Turtles can live a long time in the wild, unless the gator is hungry for turtle soup.

Today, be inspired by this little turtle to write a small poem in the comments. Support other writers with encouragement. Thanks for stopping by.

Bayou-side slider
still as a stone statue
red-ear beams on point
Margaret Simon, draft

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Poetry Friday: Cypress Giraffes

Posted in nature, Photography, Poetry Friday, Writing, tagged cypress tree, haiku image, Joyce Uglow, Kathy Halsey on April 24, 2026| 13 Comments »

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

National Poetry Month has been a whirlwind. It’s hard to believe we are nearing the end. Our Progressive Poem is progressing along with another line; See Mary Lee’s post here to catch up. Tabatha will end it for us on April 28th.

I accepted a challenge from Joyce Uglow to write among other poets at her Substack, Storied Ink. I’m also writing with Ethical ELA and having a dickens of a time memorizing the New York Times poem “The More Loving One” by W. H. Auden. It’s all good but sometimes overwhelming. I think I’ll take a break in May!

On Day 3, poet Kathy Halsey challenged us with a haiku image and the words extinct and giraffe. I thought about how the cypress trees of the Atchafalaya Swamp were near extinction from over-harvesting. These trees are made to survive high winds of hurricanes. I love my cypress trees, especially in early spring as the green is so vivid.