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Archive for the ‘Poetry’ Category

Can you walk today?

Posted in Poetry, tagged , , on April 2, 2012| Leave a Comment »

For Minga, my walking partner, friend, and mother-in-law.

30 Day Poetry Challenge #2 “Who was the last person you texted?  Write a five-line poem to that person.

Can you walk today?
Tomorrow, I know, you’ll be walking in
Morocco–yes, the one in Africa.
My traveling Minga mouse,
I’ll always remember Greece.

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Student of the Year

Posted in Poetry, Slice of Life, Writing, tagged , , , on March 30, 2012| Leave a Comment »

I am so proud to be the teacher of the Louisiana Regional Student of the Year. I am privileged to teach gifted students. This means that once a student is identified as gifted, I pull them out for services each year throughout elementary school. I have had Kaylie in my class now for 2 1/2 years. We have gotten very close. On Tuesday, she found out she had won the Regional Student of the Year. First she was nominated by her school, then she competed at the parish level, then the regional level. Now she will be in competition for the State Student of the Year. This is a pretty amazing accomplishment for an 11 year old girl. She is amazing, though.

On Wednesday, Kaylie came early to class. We sat quietly absorbing the news. She told me she gets two free nights’ stay in Baton Rouge and a savings bond. She looked at me and gently said, “It’s because of you that I got this.”

I gave her a hug and said, “I don’t believe that for one minute.” But she went on to explain. She said she was not a writer when she came to my classroom. I made her a writer. That statement has been my lifelong goal.

Once at a turning point in my teaching career, my husband asked me point blank, “What do you want to do?”
I responded, “I want to teach writing. One day I want to hear an author on NPR thank me.”

Kaylie isn’t on NPR…yet. But this moment made my heart swell. I opened the door. She has stepped in royally. Writing is a major component of the Student of the Year competition. At each level, she has to write an essay on a prompt in a given amount of time. Obviously, she does not give in to the pressure. What a gifted writer she is!

Kaylie has won a number of writing contests. The most memorable for me was the LA Writes! state youth writing contest. She won first place with a poem she wrote in my class. We were celebrating National Poetry Month and the daily challenge was to write a bad poem. I used Billy Collins’ poem Litany as inspiration. Kaylie went to the computer and composed this brilliant first place poem:

Perfect Nonsense

*after Billy Collins’ Litany

You can be the watering pail in the pine tree.

You can be the left shoe on the roof.

You can even be-somehow-just-maybe the buttered slice of burnt toast on a Sunday morning.

You are NOT the billowing clouds.

You are DEFINITELY NOT the sandy aftertaste when a wave knocks you down.

And you are most DEFINITELY CERTAINLY ABSOLUTELY TRULY NOT the pancake swimming in syrup on the hottest day of the year.

Whereas I, I am the dandelion that gently blows away.

I am your mamma’s ruby red lipstick for dinner at her best friend’s house on Thursday night.

And, as you know, I am the spit-on microphone that sits lazily in the studio.

I am me.

You are you.

We are US.


A link to Kaylie’s Slices of Life.

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Where I’m From

Posted in Poetry, Slice of Life, Writing on March 29, 2012| 12 Comments »

Read other Slice of Life writers at The Two Writing Teachers

Teaching poetry and writing poetry can be frustrating and hard.  We struggle together trying to make our words sound right.  Yesterday I tried to write a rhyming poem about writing poems.  I got advice from my students. When I read it to them, they smiled apologetically as if they were saying, “I love you, Mrs. Simon, but that poem’s no good.”

So I tried a “Where I’m From” poem, the form inspired by George Ella Lyon.  My after school kids were successful, and they cheered at mine.  So we are sharing them with you.

Where I’m From

I am from ladder-back chairs around the kitchen table,
from Ding-Dongs and ham sandwiches in a baggie.

I am from the back porch swing and telling stories,
from tall pine trees, St. Augustine grass, and the Sycamore.

I’m from “Bless this food,”
music in the left hand,
from Dorothy and John.

I ‘m from dinner at the dining table, and Tiger football,
from “sit up like a person,” and “elbows off the table.”
I’m from cornbread dressing, green peas, and pecan pie.

I’m from the river overflow of the great Mississippi
to the barge on the bayou,
Southern girl with Southern strength,
holding on to time.

Where I’m From
by Grace

I am from healthy foods, Dial soap, and Crest toothpaste.
I am from a field of sugarcane, growing tall and sweet.

I am from an old oak in the back,
azaleas in the front, irises around the pond.

I am from opening one present on Christmas Eve
and blond moments with Donna and Mallory.

I am from Sunday mass at eleven and
lots of football watching.

I am from “Keep your elbows off the table,”
and “Shoot fire!”

I am from fights with my dad over Oreos, and
with my mom and sister over artichokes.

I live in a big white house surrounded by love and
more animals than most people I know.

Where I’m From
by Darby

I am from the Lazyboy couch,
from biscuits and bacon.

I am from the flower garden with bright summer colors,
from wine vineyards and orange trees.

I am from the math wizards, Stanley and Kory.

I am from Sunday Catholic church.
I am from always use your manners
to the Golden Rule.

I am from the pizza eaters.
I am from always finding the bright side of life.

(Quote of the day from Darby when we were making pre-writing lists: “I like to write poems, but I don’t like to think about them.”)

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On Writing

Posted in Poetry, Slice of Life, tagged , , on March 23, 2012| 5 Comments »

Read other Slice of Life writers at The Two Writing Teachers

This Slice of Life Challenge has been like an online class, writing community, support group all in one neat package.  The inspirations I have gotten, along with teaching ideas and life lessons, have been invaluable to me.  Another slicer did a book spine poem.  See Teacher Dance.  Like the villanelle, this was a new one for me.  I can’t wait to try it with my students and watch them pull books off the shelf.  A creative use of the classroom library.  Will the librarian allow us to do it in the school library?

Creating my own book spine poem, I stacked some of my books about writing.  We writers collect books that give us advice.  Some of my books are about my own personal writing, some for teaching writing.  I sculpted the stack to try to make the titles work together, but I still wanted to insert text.  Reminds me of working with paste pot poetry or magnetic poetry.

For more information on the book spine cento challenge, check out this blog:  100 Scope Notes.

Word weaving
into one writer's beginnings
awakening the heart and my
wild mind.
The muses among us inspire
the right to write.
Now I am writing brave & free.
Everything is illuminated!

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