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Archive for the ‘Poetry’ Category

Slice of Life: Santa Clauses

Posted in Poetry, Slice of Life, Writing, tagged , , on December 18, 2018| 5 Comments »

See more posts at Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life .

Yesterday I read aloud the book Santa Clauses to my students.  Written by Bob Raczka and illustrated by Chuck Groenink, Santa Clauses is a book of haiku for every day in December up to Christmas Day.

I read the opening author’s note: “Santa is a man of many talents.  He’s a toymaker, a reindeer trainer, a sleigh pilot, and a world traveler.  But did you know he is a poet?”

Chloe, 3rd grade, said Santa must’ve written the haiku and sent them to Bob Raczka to publish.  I agreed that seemed like a reasonable idea.  (I love having believers in my classroom.)

Of course, in response, we had to write our own Santa clauses.  Here are a few:

So warm at nighttime
I love eating my cookies
with tasty milk cups.

by Breighlynn, 3rd grade

Paper, ribbons, bows
wrapping love in a package
Open carefully.

Margaret Simon

Rudolf is happy
that history is alive
He will tell Santa.

by Chloe, 3rd grade

I am participating in #haikuforhope along with others on Twitter. My poem today was made in Word Swag from an Instagram photo from my friend Jen Gray.

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Monday Muses: #HaikuforHope

Posted in Poetry, tagged , on December 17, 2018| 4 Comments »

Each day, a student selects a quote from the 365 Days of Wonder.  Today, the quote for December 17th was the quote above. (We don’t always use the one for the day.)  The word wisdom struck me, and I wrote a heart-hopeful haiku.

Wisdom lies inside
the heart, whether or not
we open it up.

(c) Margaret Simon

I also wrote one on my morning walk.  In winter, camellias bloom. I thought of how they have to open their blossoms to the chilly air, and how I do not always want to open my heart.  There may be chilly air about.

Being inside a bud
feels safe and warm, protected
Blooming can wait.

(c) Margaret Simon

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Sunday Stillness: #HaikuforHope

Posted in Photography, Poetry, tagged , on December 17, 2018| 1 Comment »

Photo by Molly Hogan.

Can I move beyond
my blindness, blink of darkness
and see His light?
(c) Margaret Simon

 

 

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#HaikuforHope: Approach of Winter

Posted in Poetry, tagged on December 15, 2018| 1 Comment »

On Friday, my students and I read a poem by William Carlos Williams, “Approach of Winter.”  I subscribe to a lesson email from Poets.org that is designed for middle and high school, but occasionally the lesson works for my kids, too. You can sign up for the weekly emails here. 

To get in the right mindset to write about the coming of winter, we walked outside.  The plan was to go to the garden, but heavy rain the night before left multiple puddles to navigate, and then it started to misty rain, so we ran back inside.  This didn’t lead into much amazing writing, but I later wrote a small poem about that misty rain.

Approach of Winter
after William Carlos Williams

The mist
like wet dust
tickles my nose
while clouds
hover
in grey sadness
dewdrops
of icy speckles
tasting
of coming cold.

(c) Margaret Simon

In keeping with the December haiku-a-day challenge, I turned thoughts to creating a shorter poem about coming winter.

Stratus clouds hover
yellow billows bending
Sweet sugar promise

(c) Margaret Simon

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#HaikuforHope: Bay St. Louis Sunrise

Posted in Photography, Poetry, tagged , on December 12, 2018| 1 Comment »

My friend, Chere’ Coen is a travel writer.  She posted some pictures this morning of a sunrise in Bay St. Louis, MS.  My dear friend Nettie loved Bay St. Louis.  She visited often and took me there once when we made a wrong turn on I10 and ended up going east instead of west.  I remember the sense of peace we both felt as we walked the beach looking for driftwood.  I still have that piece I picked up that day.  Nettie died in October after a battle with colon cancer.  Chere’s photograph made me miss her more and yet, feel at peace.

photo by Chere’ Coen

 

 

 

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#haikuforhope: Dancing

Posted in Poetry, tagged , , on December 11, 2018| 3 Comments »

Stop the Clock

When it’s time to dance,
you offer your hand, lead
me to step back spin.

(c) Margaret Simon

 

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Sunday Stillness: #haikuforhope

Posted in Poetry, tagged , , , on December 9, 2018| Leave a Comment »

You shine in glory
lighten my discontent
with the balm of love

(c) Margaret Simon
Christmas hymn found haiku

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#haikuforhope: Stardust

Posted in Poetry, tagged on December 9, 2018| 5 Comments »

One of the poets I am following for this month of daily haiku is Mary Lee Hahn.  She posted this poem today with a link to an article Are we really all made of stardust?  Fascinated both by this physics and my new grandson, I offer this #haikuforhope.

 

Nothing but hope
heart of a heavenly star
born as a child
(c) Margaret Simon

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Poetry Friday: Lion of the Sky

Posted in Poetry, Poetry Friday, tagged , on December 6, 2018| 14 Comments »

Poetry Friday roundup is with Elizabeth Steinglass

Laura Purdie Salas is one the most clever poets I know.  In 2014, she invented a new form of haiku, the riddle-ku, when she decided to write riddle+mask poems for National Poetry Month. In Spring of 2019, a new book of riddle-ku poems will be available, Lion of the Sky. 

I received an advanced copy at NCTE.  For reading with small children, the illustrations give pretty strong hints to the answer to the riddle, so I didn’t show my middle grade students the illustrations until they “gave up.”  I was surprised both by the ones they guessed and the ones they missed.  Nevertheless, they had a good time playing along.

Then, of course, we wrote our own riddle-kus. I copied lines from Laura’s book onto popsicle sticks and let the students select a stick and decide how to use the line in their own riddle-ku.

Laura shared her webpage for this book which includes a padlet for students to post their poems.

Sprite+Mentos=Explosion

(This title is a shout-out to another of Laura’s new books, Snowman-Cold=Puddle)

Exploding red hot
lava oozing out on top
Dangerous! Don’t touch!

by Chloe, 3rd grade

Endless Parched Sea

Wide, curvy, golden
I am a sea needing rain
Memories within

by Madison, 5th grade

I wrote a few, too.  The one above with the picture of burning sugarcane fields, but my favorite is this one.  Can you guess what it’s about?

On the waiting page,
I flow from your colored pen
Word patterns counted

–Margaret Simon, (c) 2018

In the comments, take a guess for each poem.  Thanks!

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#HaikuforHope: Slice of Life: No explanation given

Posted in Poetry, Slice of Life, Writing, tagged , on December 4, 2018| 13 Comments »

See more posts at Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life .

I am participating in writing a haiku-a-day in the month of December.  Follow the hashtag #haikuforhope on Twitter to read and join in.

I had news of a tragic death by suicide this weekend.  A former student. A creative soul. An enthusiastic friend who loved without condition. Why? No one knows.  Not even the ones who were closest to him.

I wish there were some way I could remain a person in my students’ lives, someone they could call whenever they needed someone to talk to without judgement.  They enter my heart when they are so young, 8, 9, 10 year-olds who know so very little about what lies ahead, but they are full of curiosity and longing. I love them when I have them, then I have to let them go.  They continue to grow and change and become grown-ups.  I may find them again on social media, but there are no guarantees.  I have to trust that the world will be kind.

I don’t think the world was kind to Walt.  He never fit in, conforming was not a part of who he was or who he could be.  He wanted so much more than the world could give him.  I really don’t know what could have gone through his head to make him choose death instead of life.  I need to let go again.  I have to trust that he is where he needs to be now, in the arms of an angel in heaven who can love him forever.

 

 

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