Poetry | Reflections on the Teche

Archive for the ‘Poetry’ Category

#NPM19: Day 7: Where I Waited

Posted in Poetry, Writing, tagged #NPM19, Books along the Teche Literary Festival, Darrell Bourque, Mary Ardoin Broussard, metaphor dice, NaPoWriMo, Paint Chip Poetry on April 7, 2019| 4 Comments »

National Poetry Month 2019: I am playing with poetry alongside Mary Lee Hahn, Jone Rush MacCulloch.Christie Wyman, Molly Hogan, and Catherine Flynn.

This weekend in New Iberia was the third annual Books along the Teche Literary Festival. On Friday, I attended a reading by former state poet laureate and one of my mentors, Darrell Bourque. He brought along accordion artist Mary Ardoin Broussard.

Mary Broussard plays the old Creole style of Zydeco music known as La La music. Darrell’s poems from his book Where I Waited (Yellow Flag Press, 2016) are written in the voices of early Cajun and Creole musicians from the 1930’s and 40’s. Cajuns and Creoles in Louisiana spoke French. I don’t speak French, so sometimes I have a hard time following along. I love this music for its dancing beat, but I can’t sing the lyrics and rarely know what they mean.

Darrell wrote about the song Quoi Faire in his poem for Golden Thibodeaux with the title “Here and Here.” Mary said quoi faire means “Why you broke my heart like that?”

Darrell then spoke of the energy in Golden Thibodeaux’s music. I, however, listened to the energy between Darrell and Mary, making their own kind of music by echoing and honoring the voices of the past.

I played in a different way with my own poetry finding new lines within the lines of Darrell’s poem Here and Here.

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#NPM19: Day 6: Metaphor Wisdom

Posted in Poetry, Writing, tagged #NPM19, metaphor dice, NaPoWriMo, Paint Chip Poetry on April 6, 2019| 5 Comments »

National Poetry Month 2019: I am playing with poetry alongside Mary Lee Hahn, Jone Rush MacCulloch.Christie Wyman, Molly Hogan, and Catherine Flynn.

Today I have two drafts written with a roll of metaphor dice. I tend to roll them until I get something I think I can write about. “Truth is a glorified meadow” was a first roll and it stumped me. Before re-rolling, I asked my student Landon what he thought it meant. He said, “It’s like when you have the truth, you have a wide open field of possibility.” Such wisdom in a young 5th grader.

I also challenged myself to use the zeno form: syllable count 8,4,2,1,4,2,1,4,2,1 with each 1 syllable rhyming.

Truth is a glorified meadow
finding you in
a clear
field
open playground
without
shield
your forgiving
spirit
healed
–Margaret Simon (draft) 2019

For the next metaphor dice poem, I used magnetic poetry words to help guide the results.

Hope is a glorified dance
to delicate music–
a gorgeous goddess
whispering near,
misty gift here.
–Margaret Simon (draft) 2019

Misty morning oak

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#NPM19: Day 5: A Stormy Day becomes a Poem

Posted in Poetry, Writing, tagged #NPM19, metaphor dice, NaPoWriMo, Paint Chip Poetry on April 5, 2019| 12 Comments »

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#NPM19 Day 4: Things to Do with Magnetic Poetry

Posted in Poetry, Writing, tagged #NaPoWriMo, #NPM19, #PlayingwithpoetryNPM, magnetic poetry on April 4, 2019| 5 Comments »

This month I am playing with poetry with poet-teacher-blogger friends. Feel free to play along.

I am also playing alongside my students. We brought out the cookie sheets of magnetic poetry. I talked about two similar poem forms, the How to poem and the Things to do poem. You can read their poems here.

I also played with my Word Swag app in my phone to create a more beautiful and professional looking image.

Here’s another on the cookie sheet. I can’t remember who brilliantly suggested using cookie sheets for magnetic poetry, but it works great. For an itinerant teacher like me, it’s a convenient way to carry them. I also have some in a tin which works equally as well. The lid of the tin serves as a composition space.

I have a new student, Maddox, in 4th grade. Sometimes kids walk into my classroom already knowing how to be a poet. Here is Maddox’s first poem.

How to Be a Storm

rock the ships below
boom like a thundering drum
blast the air with a gale
use your wrath in a tempestuous storm
then let the sun shine again

—Maddox, 4th grade

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#NPM19: Day 2 and Wood Ducks Update

Posted in Poetry, Slice of Life, Writing, tagged #NPM19, NaPoWriMo, Paint Chip Poetry, TECHE Project, wood duck house on April 1, 2019| 11 Comments »

See more posts at Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life

Some of you have been following our wood duck house story. In late February, my husband built a wood duck house and set it up near the bayou. We put a Ring doorbell camera inside to capture the whole process. We were amazed when a hen came in the very next day. It took her a few weeks to lay the eggs and begin sitting on them. I wrote about it here and here.

The last time I was able to count the eggs, I had counted 13 eggs.

The problem with using a Ring camera is, with the constant motion of a hen sitting fairly consistently, the battery runs down. We changed it out once with no problem, but Saturday afternoon, it had totally died. Because we couldn’t look at the camera to see if the hen was in the house, my husband spooked her when he went to change the battery.

She came back for a brief minute then flew back out at around 7:30 PM. After that, nothing.

Did she abandon the nest altogether? Alerts to motion come onto my phone. I usually turn off notifications during the night but I didn’t Saturday. We waited for the buzz of the phone. Nothing.

Sunday morning I looked out the window, saying a few prayers that she would return. I saw the couple in the water. I practically begged at the window, “Please go back in. Please go back in.”

She flew up and around the house and landed back in the water.

I woke up my husband who admits he wasn’t really sleeping. I said, “There must be some kind of sound coming from the camera to scare her like that.”

He said, “To hell with broadcasting, we need to save these eggs.”

But taking the camera out didn’t prove necessary. I heard a buzz on my phone. She’s back! She was in the box, settling in, poking around, as if nothing had happened. Whew! Relief!

Jeff watched one of the videos from the camera and noticed that there was a hen perched at the hole flying out while another hen was in the box sitting. Could they both be sitting? Are they sharing the nest?

While our hen was away, I was able to get a shot of the eggs. She hadn’t had time to cover them before she left. I counted 20 eggs! Twenty!

If my calculations are right, and the 12 hour hiatus doesn’t change the incubation time, the eggs are due to hatch on or around April 11th. You know I will be posting. You can follow on my Instagram or Facebook page.

Now for poetry. I am playing with some fun poetry games. My students are playing along and posting on our Kidblog site.

With Paint Chip Poetry, I pulled honey, quicksilver, and under the sea. The prompt was “We’re all in this together.”

We’re all wild honey
under the sea
free and quick
like silver sparkles
together
making waves
splashing
sprays
whale family.

Margaret Simon (draft, 2019)

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#NPM19: Paint Chip Poetry 1

Posted in Poetry, Writing, tagged #NPM19, NaPoWriMo, Paint Chip Poetry on April 1, 2019| 13 Comments »

National Poetry Month 2019: I am writing alongside Mary Lee Hahn and Jone Rush MacCulloch.

My box of Paint Chip Poetry arrived just in time for this month’s poetry writing. I am playing with poetry. In Paint Chip Poetry, you select a prompt which is a phrase, along with some paint chips. The paint colors have names. I’m not sure if I’m playing right, but here is what I got.

A little revision:

Far, far away
before the rain,
a sunburst glows
on scarecrow
makes him believe
in magic like gold
at the end of the rainbow.
–Margaret Simon, (draft) 2019

Matt Forrest Esenwine has the first line for the Progressive Poem. He is using found lines. The schedule is in the sidebar. National Poetry Month begins!

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SOLC2019: #29 Secret Gardeners

Posted in Poetry, Poetry Friday, Slice of Life, Teaching, Writing, tagged school garden, service learning on March 29, 2019| 15 Comments »

See more posts at Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life

Poetry Friday round-up is with Carol at Carol’s Corner.

Spring is in full swing and weeds are choking the ground. When we discussed service projects we could do for this quarter, Landon brought up the garden. He is in the garden club, so he knows it needs some loving care.

I suggested Thursdays. 30 minutes. Keep it a secret.

When Thursday came, the sun was high in the sky with a slight breeze and the perfect temperature to be outside. The kids didn’t forget.

Landon showed us the stash of gloves and tools, and we went to work on a small patch of weeds.

I was surprised at how excited they were to get down and dirty. Kaia said, “I have a poem.” We had also talked about writing secret poems for poetry month and placing them in the garden.

We hadn’t brought our notebooks (note to self for next week), but I had my phone, so I opened Notes and captured her poem. Jayden laughed when she got the chance to star in our poem.

We are the secret gardeners.
We don’t make a sound.
We are digging weeds
Right out of the ground.

We are pulling and pulling.
Watch out for the bees.
What a charming day!
Jayden’s about to sneeze.
Aaaaah…..Choo!

by Kaia, 3rd grade

Bouquet of flowers from the garden.

Poetry Month is just around the corner. My NPM19 Poem A Day project is Playing With Poetry. I am joining Jone MacCulloch and Mary Lee Hahn. We will be playing with Haikubes, Magnetic Poetry, Metaphor Dice, and Paint Chip Poetry. Join in if you’d like! We can use the Twitter hashtag #playwithpoetryNPM to find and support each other.

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SOLC2019: #27: Keep Us Here

Posted in Poetry, Slice of Life, Spiritual Growth, Writing, tagged Robert Frost, The Writer's Almanac on March 27, 2019| 10 Comments »

See more posts at Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life

I take inspiration wherever it comes from. My friend and I recently discussed the book Big Magic. He said, “It really works. I send the wish out into the universe and inspiration comes.”

I’ve subscribed to Garrison Keillor’s The Writer’s Almanac .

Every day there is a poem to read and other short articles about famous birthdays and historical events.

Yesterday was Robert Frost’s birthday. I love this quote from Robert Frost about poetry.

Using a line from Robert Frost’s poem A Prayer in Spring, and keeping this quote in mind, I wrote a poem.

Keep Us Here

With this spring day
while pollen dances on the wind
while blossoms open to the sun,
keep us here.

With our true love
gathering flowers in a vase
digging deep in the earth
keep us here.

With our eyes on death,
holy is the dirt.
Holy is your face.
Keep us here.

–Margaret Simon

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SOLC2019: #24 Silent Super Moon

Posted in Bayou Song, Photography, Poetry, Slice of Life, Writing, tagged I am poem, Supermoon on March 24, 2019| 13 Comments »

See more posts at Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life

March Super Moon
Photo by Margaret Simon

I am your silent super moon
I light the equinox sky
I touch the tips of trees
I hear nocturnal owls
I whisper secrets to your soul.

I am your silent super moon
I tell the myths of constellations
I cry tears for fading Earth
I pretend to keep my eyes on you.
I pull tides of ocean waves.

I am your silent super moon.
I wonder if I’m magical
I play hide-n-seek with stars
I carry your wishes in my moondust
Sprinkle heaven with hope.
I am your silent super moon.

This poem came to me in stages beginning with my morning walk with the super moon earlier this week. I was reminded of this form when Elisabeth Ellington used it to write a response poem to the first poem in my book Bayou Song, I am a Beckoning Brown Bayou. I’ve used the form with students and adults in writing workshops. Here is a template for the form. If you use it to create your own poem or have students respond, let me know. I love to share how Bayou Song inspires on my book Facebook page.

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SOLC2019: #22 Air Lifted

Posted in Poetry, Slice of Life, Writing, tagged air lifted, Daily Wonder, Writing to quotes on March 21, 2019| 18 Comments »

See more posts at Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life

Poetry Friday round-up is with Rebecca at Sloth Reads.

On Thursday morning, I got some shocking and scary news. My good friend who is battling cancer was air lifted to a larger, more equipped hospital. A message went out asking for prayers.

I recalled being air lifted almost 34 years ago when my then 4 month old daughter went into heart tachycardia. The medics placed me on the gurney and then laid her on top of me. As the helicopter beat through the air, my attention went to prayer. As I ~~prayed~~ begged, I remember feeling a physical presence with me, an actual laying on of hands, and my daughter’s heartbeat slowed. When we arrived at Oschner Hospital in New Orleans, the doctors there explained that her heart was responding to an infection in her body; it was not her heart. She had pneumonia. Now, she is the mother of a near 4 month old herself, so this memory is close.

Laura Purdie Salas posts an image and prompt ever Thursday for “15 words or less.” Her image Thursday was a rescue helicopter from the Coast Guard Monument in DC. This was my poem:

First Flight

Steady drumming beat
of my heart against hers
matching the rhythm
to helicopter rotors–
Life!

When we write together in my classroom, we often use quotes. Thursday morning I looked on my Wonder app and found this quote.

The Daily Wonder App

In my notebook I wrote a prayer poem:

Oh clouds!
You are so necessary for life, but
if you don’t mind, please
move aside.
Let sun’s light
shine on Amy.
Bring her out of darkness
into hope.

Oh clouds!
We are helpless to move
you out of the way.
We send smoke signals,
wave wands, dance in a circle,
all to overcome your gloom.
Show us the sun today.
Show us the way to hope.

–Margaret Simon