Poetry | Reflections on the Teche

Archive for the ‘Poetry’ Category

SOLC2019: #12 In the Middle of the Night

Posted in Poetry, Slice of Life, Teaching, Writing, tagged Laura Purdie Salas, mask poems on March 12, 2019| 9 Comments »

See more posts at Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life

Happy Book Birthday to In the Middle of the Night by Laura Purdie Salas!

I met Laura a few years ago at NCTE and have followed her ever since. She is gentle, kind, and generous, everything a children’s poet should be. I am inspired by her every week on her blog. On Thursdays she posts an image with an invitation to write a 15 words or less poem. It’s a great space to show up in each week to read other poems and interact with the children’s poetry online community.

Laura is also a pretty awesome presenter. In November, 2018, we presented together on a panel at NCTE, Writing Poetry in the Wild. Here’s a link to the slides.

In her presentation, Laura encouraged us to look around and write about what we see. Well, that’s not exactly what she did to write this latest book. In the Middle of the Night requires more than just observation; it requires an imagination. The poems are all written in the point of view of some object doing something during the night.

Twenty-six poems share the wild adventures that toys, food, and other household objects have at night while you sleep. Everything from stuffed animals to clothing to writing utensils comes to life under the cover of night. An overdue library book searches for the perfect place to hide. A paper clip skydives with a tissue parachute. A fruit snack unrolls to create a tricky racetrack for toy cars. Come sneak away for some moonlit adventures!

In my class, I wanted my students to experience this fun idea and Laura’s poetry. From the Table of Contents, my students selected a few poems they wanted to hear. I always start with “What do you notice?” They noticed that the poems were written in first person (Cha-Ching! for that concept), and I reminded them that they are called mask poems. They noticed rhyming and rhythm patterns. With a little more prodding, they found alliteration and imagery.

In addition to working on close reading skills with poetry, we stretched our writing muscles. We used this activity sheet from Laura to write our own poems.

Laura has a Padlet for contributors’ poems here. We placed links on the Padlet to our Kidblog site. If you have a minute, stop by and place comments for my kids.

Click here to go to Laura’s web page.

Monday, 3/11 Mile High Reading

Tuesday, 3/12 Reflections on the Teche

Wednesday, 3/13 Poetrepository

Thursday, 3/14 Check It Out

Friday, 3/15 Radio, Rhythm & Rhyme

Sunday, 3/17 Great Kid Books

Monday, 3/18 Simply 7 Interview/Jena Benton blog

Tuesday, 3/19 My Juicy Little Universe

Wednesday, 3/20 Live Your Poem

Thursday, 3/21 Reading to the Core

Friday, 3/22 KidLit Frenzy

Beyond Literacy Link

In the Middle of the Night: Poems from a Wide-Awake House Author: Laura Purdie Salas

Illustrator: Angela Matteson

Publisher: Wordsong (3/12/19)

ISBN: 978-1620916308

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SOLC2019: #10 Blooming

Posted in Photography, Poetry, Slice of Life, Spiritual Growth, Writing, tagged bridal wreath flowers, nature poem on March 10, 2019| 17 Comments »

See more posts at Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life

It doesn’t take much to bloom–
a space in the yard
tucked away from plain view
safe from weeds and snakes.

Just stretch out your branches,
bend to the light,
open your eyes
and be white lace, clouds of lace

woven on air
swept up in a tangle of wind
waiting for hope.
That’s all it takes to bloom.

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SOLC2019: #7 Balance

Posted in Poetry, Slice of Life, Spiritual Growth, Writing, tagged balance, Spiritual poetry on March 7, 2019| 12 Comments »

See more posts at Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life

See more Spiritual Thursday posts with Doraine at Yoga Inspired.

This is the first Thursday of the month, so the Spiritual Journey gathering is happening at Dori’s site today around the topic Balance.

photo by Danne from pexels.com

Balance is a levitated word
held between my fingers
with no space for doubt.

Balance doesn’t lean or lose;
it’s always in control.
Gravity is its guide.

Balance grows on solid ground,
strengthens while it weighs nothing,
suspension in space and time.

So how is it, then, that balance
eludes the seeker? Here for a second,
then gone, out of reach.

We request balance in our lives
of diet
of things-to-do lists
of spinning plates.

But balance is only of God,
of true peace
of kindness
of mercy.

Balance can not be achieved alone.

(c) Margaret Simon

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SOLC2019: #2 King Cake Time

Posted in Poetry, Slice of Life, Travel, Writing, tagged food poetry, King Cake, Laura Shovan, Mardi Gras, New Orleans on March 2, 2019| 11 Comments »

See more posts at Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life

In addition to the Slice of Life Challenge, I am writing a poem each day with a Facebook group for Laura Shovan’s annual birthday project. This year we are writing about food. The prompt yesterday from Laura herself was sourdough bread. Not having much experience in sourdough bread, the baking or the eating of it, I took the option to write about any bread.

I am currently in New Orleans with my girls celebrating Mardi Gras. A staple pastry during the Mardi Gras season is King cake. King Cake is symbolic of Epiphany, the season of the church year following Christmas. On Epiphany, the three kings arrived to worship Jesus. The dough is baked in a circle symbolizing unity of faith. The frosting is colored sugar in purple, gold, and green. Gold represents power, green is associated with faith, and purple illustrates justice. (Southern Living)

Of the many Mardi Gras traditions, this is one of my favorite. In our small town of New Iberia, there is a donut bakery that makes King Cakes like a donut. My son-in-law brought one yesterday that he swears weighs more than his 2 month old. It’s infused with cream cheese and strawberry jam. There are two more on the kitchen counter each with its own flavoring and pastry recipe. The tradition is that a plastic baby is placed inside the King Cake to symbolize the search for baby Jesus. Whomever gets the baby in their piece is obligated to buy the next King Cake for the next celebration.

I’ve decided to forego my no carb diet just for this weekend. Let the good times roll!

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SOLC2019 Day 1 and Poetry Friday: Poetry of Place

Posted in Poetry, Poetry Friday, Slice of Life, Writing, tagged Jen Vincent, place-based writing, Story Exploratory on March 1, 2019| 17 Comments »

Today is the first day of March, so you know what that means: The annual March Slice of Life Challenge at the Two Writing Teachers! I will be writing a blog post every day and linking it up to Two Writing Teachers. What’s the point?

Writing every day is an important discipline for a writer and for a teacher of writing.
Connecting to other teacher-writers inspires and informs my teaching and writing, and I usually make new friends along the way.
There are prizes!

I first met Jen Vincent through Kate Messner’s Teachers Write, a virtual summer camp for teachers who want to write. If I remember correctly, we did a Google Hangout with other writers and read a section of our work. I further connected with Jen through blogging and Twitter and met up with her at NCTE in 2014. These connections are invaluable to me as a teacher and a writer.

One day I saw that Jen was teaching a workshop. Silly me, I thought it was virtual, so I replied to her message on Facebook, “I want to come.” Since Chicago and South Louisiana are pretty far apart, that was not feasible, but Jen thought of a way. She created a virtual workshop.

We met one Saturday morning by Zoom meeting. She led me through an exercise from Teachers Write by Tracey Baptiste. We made a graphic organizer in our notebooks and labeled three places we had been recently. We then divided each column into two columns. On one side we wrote descriptions about the places and the other side we wrote emotions we felt about the places.

I chose school, dance lessons, and a restaurant where we go dancing. I decided to connect the three places with the thread of dancing.

Dancing Days

I dance through my days…

Halls of smiling teachers
greet my wobbly walk
weighed down with backpack,
lunch bag and Yeti cup.
Miss Marie says, Show me that grandbaby!
After we view the latest pic on my phone,
I dance down the hall to my classroom.

At Dance Around the World studio,
bright purple walls of mirror on mirror
reflect my partner and me.
Miss Lou says, Right. Left. Back step.
We follow along,
find our balance–
weightless in a jitterbug twirl.

I dance my way to Friday night,
Nouveau String Band at Joie de Vivre,
wooden floors echo the sounds
of greetings, giggles, and two-steps.
Buck says, This waltz is for you.
The weight of the week disappears
to the beat of fiddle, mandolin, and drum.

(c) Margaret Simon

This workshop was a test run for Jen for her new Patreon page, Story Exploratory. If you’d like to find more ways to write, I highly recommend Jen as an instructor. You can view this workshop and others by visiting Jen’s patreon page, Story Exploratory.

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Slice of Life: Word Group Love Poems

Posted in Poetry, Slice of Life, Teaching, Writing, tagged Charles Ghinga, Love poems, Sanford Lyne, word group poems on February 19, 2019| 16 Comments »

See more posts at Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life .

On Valentine’s Day last Thursday, I challenged my students to write a love poem without using the word love. On Facebook I had read Charles Ghinga’s poem for his wife Debra. I used it as a mentor text.

YOU ARE THE MOON

(for Debra)

You are the moon.
My only one.

You bring light
Where there was none.

©Charles Ghigna

After we read this poem, we brainstormed a list of things in nature that could serve as a metaphor as moon does in Charles’ poem. I pushed my students to be specific. Some of the more interesting things they listed:

sunflower
lily pads
stars
swans
sea eagle
grass
northern lights

Page of word groups from Writing Poetry From the Inside Out by Sandford Lyne.

I used a poetry resource by Sandford Lyne called Writing Poetry from the Inside Out. In this book, Sandy writes about “Poem Sketching” with word groups. The back is full of pages of word groups. I photocopied one of these pages to give to my students. Each student chose a word group to write from.

Magic happened. Was it writing about love without using the word? the model poem from Charles? the word groups from Sandy? or the magic that happens when writing in a safe community?

We cut out construction paper hearts and wrote our poems on them to give to someone special. I gave mine to Madison because I used a quote of hers. Chloe gave hers to me, probably because I loved it. And Madison gave hers to Chloe. Poetry gifts from the heart.

Love poem gift from Chloe glued into my notebook.

You can read more poems on our kidblog site.

Journey They Will Take

Two dolphins
under the sea
two deer
in the woods
and
the northern lights
watching
the four animals
coming together
On the journey they
will take.

Chloe, 3rd grade

I think your feelings for me

are a midnight walk

where it’s easy to get lost.

My feelings for you are as bright as stars

when I’m alone.

I’m a neighborhood of sadness,

a pool of cries,

an ocean of regret.

Our feelings are as wild as animals.
by Jayden, 5th grade

My poem for Madison:

She says, “Did you know the sea eagle
has a wingspan of eight feet?”
I write it down in my notebook
realizing that her knowledge
opens the surface
of our classroom
like the blossom of a tulip.
Digging into depths
of learning
makes everyday
as fascinating
as the sea eagle.

–Margaret Simon

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Poetry Friday: Inspiration

Posted in Poetry, Poetry Friday, Writing, tagged butterweed, inspirational quotes, quotes, skinny poem on February 15, 2019| 14 Comments »

Poetry Friday round-up is with Jone this week at Check it Out!

I read the above quote in a post from Smack Dab in the Middle. (Image made in Canva) If you are a writer, take a minute to read the post. Darlene Jacobson wrote, “For me, and I suspect for many of us who write for children, EVERYTHING is a miracle.”

I write with children, not just for children, and feel that every time we write together, a miracle happens. Lately I have been writing skinny poems, multiple skinnies a day. I’ve gotten into the rhythm. Starting with a simple line leading to single words is a quick and inspirational way to write. Like haiku, a skinny poem is a short form, but unlike haiku that focuses on a single moment, a skinny can focus on a single thought or idea. (See more about the form on my PF post last week.)

Taking inspiration from the above quote, I wrote the following:

Everything is a miracle
touched
by
God’s
hand
touched
by
my
holiness
touched
by a miracle is everything.

Today, after a stormy day yesterday, the sky is clear and the sun is shining, a daily miracle. There are fields of butterweed blooming.

CREDIT:Jeff Lepore/Science Source

Sunshine is a daily miracle
a
meadow
of
gold
a
glow
of
grass
a
daily miracle in the Sun.

What miracles do you see every day? Can you write a simple skinny poem?

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Poetry Friday: Metaphor Dice and Skinny Poems

Posted in Poetry, Poetry Friday, Teaching, Writing, tagged metaphor dice, skinny poem on February 8, 2019| 27 Comments »

Poetry Friday round-up is with Laura Purdie Salas this week.

Have you gotten a set of metaphor dice yet? Here’s a link to them on Amazon.

I’ve been playing with metaphor dice and the skinny poem form. To make a skinny poem, roll the dice to find your first statement.

I got “Love is a silent blessing.” This becomes line one. Lines 2, 6, and 10 are all the same word. Other lines are only one word long. Line 11 repeats the same words as line 1. Confused? Try numbering your paper from 1-11. Write your metaphor phrase in line one. Choose a simple word for line 2, 6, and 10. Fill in the rest.

Love is a silent blessing
a
whisper
touch
smile
a
soft
unspoken
wink
a
silent love blessing.

Here are a few student skinnies:

Beauty is a glorified dance
a
midnight
shining
flower
a
gentle
soft
breeze
a
beautiful dance glorified.

by Landon, 5th grade

The past is a broken wonder
an
old
broken
tree
an
unbelievable
impossible
mistake
an
incredible, broken, wonder
by Daniel, 4th grade

We also wrote bug-ku this week inspired by Susan Bruck on her site last week. Check out all student poems on our kidblog site.

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Spiritual Journey: Home

Posted in Photography, Poetry, Spiritual Growth, Writing, tagged home, Japanese magnolia, Poets and Writers, Spiritual poetry on February 6, 2019| 10 Comments »

See more Spiritual Thursday posts at Donna’s site, Mainly Write.

Donna is gathering our Spiritual Journey First Thursday posts at her blog. Donna recently moved, so she chose “Home” as our topic for today.

We often look to our church as a spiritual home. But is this the only place where God lives? Like the saying “Home is where the heart is,” God is where the heart is, too. Just because you may not have a place to worship, God’s presence does not leave you. God is in my mind…always.

I also believe that God is in my poetry. Wherever I am, the world opens and reveals poems. This week is only the first week of February, but the temperatures have climbed above 70 degrees, and the Japanese magnolias are blooming. On my early morning walk, I pass a lonely tree in a vacant lot. It’s obviously not trimmed or cared for and in many ways looks like it’s dead, but not this week. So I wrote a poem about it. Of course.

The first stanza is a direct quote from The Time is Now, a weekly writing prompt from Poets and Writers.

A Day on Saturn

A day on Saturn
lasts a total of ten hours,
thirty-three minutes,
and thirty-eight seconds,
according to the Astrophysical Journal.

When I pass the Japanese magnolia,
I think it must be dying.
Lichen clusters on its branches;
a hollowed trunk carved like a cave
invites infesting insects.

And yet, there they are
in the middle of winter, pink
blossom buds
point to the sky
spot Saturn

like an astrolabe
aligns the planets,
from a leafless display

balancing a day.

–Margaret Simon, all rights reserved

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Slice of Life: Poems and Art Collage

Posted in Creativity, Poetry, Slice of Life, Teaching, Writing, tagged Acadiana Center for the Arts, Bayou Song, teaching teachers on February 5, 2019| 15 Comments »

See more posts at Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life .

Last week I collaborated with artist Marla Kristicevich on a workshop for teachers designed around poetry and art collage. The workshop was part of the Arts in Education professional development series held at the Acadiana Center for the Arts.

After I presented about finding elements of poetry in my poem “I am a Beckoning Brown Bayou,” Marla shared how she had taken words from 3 different poems from my book Bayou Song, and circled words that represented an element of art. She then created a magazine collage to reflect those words and images. While Marla’s complete presentation was in a PowerPoint slide show, the part that touched me were the amazing and beautiful collages she had created from my words.

Marla’s collage from interpreting the poem There is Always.

We had 12 dedicated teachers attend, and they enjoyed the time to sit and create with materials from magazines, painted paper, and other scraps. The collages were varied and lent new meaning to the poems we worked with.

Then I led the teachers in writing their own poem by gathering new words from their own collages and selecting a form to use. My hope is these teachers will take what they learned, their joy of playing with words and art, and bring it into their classrooms, but more than that, my poet’s heart was touched by the way my poems from Bayou Song led to more poems.

Collage from “There is Always” by Cissy Whipp.

Cissy’s Poem

Dance/Nature Triptych

I.

My dance is in the way
the leaves calmly curl and crinkle
under my feet.

II.

My dance is in the water
rippling, rising, rushing
around my ankles.

III.

My dance is in the place
between land and water –
the muddy, mysterious marsh.