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Archive for the ‘Poetry’ Category

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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#HaikuforHope: Keep Paddling

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

Sunday afternoon was so gorgeous we had to stop and take a canoe trip down the bayou.  The temperatures were in the 70’s which we won’t likely see again for a while as December begins to roll in on cooler waves.  I really believe that the cypress trees are more beautiful this year with their bronze needles that still cling to the branches.  We stopped by a neighbor’s house and chatted with her while a fat water snake slithered from a nearby bush.  Yes, it freaked me out, and I became jumpy.  Everything became a snake: branches, leaves, jumping fish, scurrying squirrels. But soon my heebie-jeebies subsided, and I enjoyed the scenery.  With the still water, the reflections were picture perfect.

December on Bayou Teche by Margaret Simon

Dusk, hawks are hunting,
Scouting a slithering snake.
Keep paddle moving.

(c) Margaret Simon

 

 

 

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Sunday Stillness: #HaikuforHope

Posted in Poetry, tagged on December 2, 2018| 5 Comments »

December morning by Margaret Simon

I am writing a haiku each day in December along with others in the kidlitosphere.  This morning I woke up to this beautiful view with the morning light creating perfect reflections in the bayou water.  It was calling for a poem.  The words became something between a haiku (5,7,5 syllable count) and a tanka (5,7,5,7,7 syllables)

Sometimes light rises
so illuminating, bright,
all life pauses
to look at its reflection.

(c) Margaret Simon

Yesterday on my morning walk I gathered fall leaves.  I don’t remember having such colorful leaves before, but maybe I just didn’t notice.  Linda Baie wrote about pressing leaves between waxed paper with her grandchildren recently.  She reminded me of this activity, so I pressed my leaf collection and taped it into my art journal.  This is the completed page.

A leaf turns yellow
falls without making a sound–
Earth’s hush releases.

(c) Margaret Simon

If you would like to join in the challenge, use the hashtag #haikuforhope and follow @MaryLeeHahn and @flynn_catherine and @LBaie on Twitter.

 

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Poetry Friday: Mesmerizing Nature

Posted in Photography, Poetry, Poetry Friday, tagged , on November 30, 2018| 5 Comments »

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

My mother-in-law just returned from a trip to Whidbey Island in Washington where she did some amazing bird watching with her second son’s family.  I was most intrigued by her description of the western sandpiper’s murmuration.  I’ve only seen murmurations on video.  I’d love to see one is real life.  Breathtaking!

Laura Purdie Salas posts an image on Thursday for a weekly poetry writing prompt, “15 words or less.”  This week she had a picture of a sculpture in the Houston Convention Center that I probably passed by numerous times and didn’t take notice.  The art piece looked like a flock of birds.  My mind went to sandpiper murmurations. (My sister-in-law sent me this video. It’s mesmerizing.)

 

 

Dunlin sandpiper migration
high wind murmuration
frosty sunrise creation
bird watchers’ salvation

(c) Margaret Simon

If you read my poem on Laura’s site (we post them in the comments), you may notice a correction in the breed of bird from sandhill crane to dunlin sandpiper.  I did some fact checking.

Mary Lee Hahn invited us to join her in a December haiku-a-day project.  I’ve started early.  When I returned from my morning walk, I took this picture of grandmother oak, but what I noticed was the color of the cypress tree behind her.  I don’t usually see this color.  Most of the time, the cypress trees quickly shed their needles.  I wonder why they are holding on longer this fall.

 

photo by Margaret Simon

Bronze cypress needles
cling as a child on rope swing
resist winter’s grip

#haikuforhope

(c) Margaret Simon

 

 

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Slice of Life: Make Time for Notebooks

Posted in Poetry, Slice of Life, Teachers Write, Teaching, Writing on November 28, 2018| 11 Comments »

See more posts at Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life .

At NCTE 2018, I was excited to attend a session, Why Notebooks?, that some of my favorite people were leading: Jen Cherry, Amy Ludwig VanDerwater, Michelle Haseltine, and Linda Urban.  I’ve been a notebooker for some time now, and I always have my students decorate a marbleized journal at the beginning of the year, so I was drawn to finding more ways to use notebooks in my classroom.

As someone who loves little notebooks, I was delighted that there were handmade notebooks for us to keep (folded unlined paper with a colored cardstock cover).  They passed around puffy stickers for us to choose from.  I felt the thrill of creating something new.

Jen Cherry gave us reasons behind using notebooks with your students:

  1. Personalizes learning by providing choice.
  2. Encourages mindfulness.
  3. Builds stamina.
  4. Encourages risk.
  5. Students live like writers.

Michelle Haseltine prompted us to write an invitation to our notebooks.  On the first clean white page of the little green notebook, I wrote this poem.

 

I made a commitment to myself to be more intentional about notebook writing with my students.  On our first day back after Thanksgiving break, I asked my students to get out their notebooks.  In order to provide a structure that honors choice, I thought back to a workshop I attended with our Louisiana Poet Laureate Jack Bedell who told us about William Staffords’ daily writing discipline.

  1. date
  2. description of something that happened recently
  3. aphorism (cliche’)
  4. meditation (a poem-like thing)

After a few days of using this structure, I was hooked.  It was working for me, so why not share it with my students?  This is what I wrote on the board:

  1. Date
  2. Something that happened…
  3. Quote of the day
  4. Poem-ish writing

I set the timer for ten minutes and we wrote.  Some shared.  And some found their next blog post.  “I’m going to use this for my Slice of Life.”  We were doing the work of real writers.

We’ve been using the 365 Days of Wonder for quotes of the day, but I wasn’t doing anything more with it than having a student choose one and write it on a frame of glass.  They were enjoying the process of choosing and would often naturally start a conversation around the chosen quote.  Adding it to our daily notebook page gives more attention to the quote as well as possibly inspiring more writing.

This was our quote yesterday: “Happiness is a perfume you can not pour on others without getting a few drops on yourself.”  My poem-like meditation:

Happiness is the scent of flowers
in a bouquet
you give
just because
you’re happy.
Then the drops of perfume
fill your senses
and transfer
to whomever you hug.
Spread some happiness today!

As we get more and more adept at writing in our notebooks every day, my students and I will reap the benefits of sharing in a writing community.  Why Notebooks? So many reasons.  Pull them out of the desks, booksacks, or cubbies and just do it! You’ll be glad you did.

 

 

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Poetry Friday: Sculpture Garden Found Poem

Posted in Photography, Poetry, Poetry Friday, Travel, Writing, tagged , on November 23, 2018| 13 Comments »

Poetry Friday round-up is with Irene at Live Your Poem.

 

Spending some time in New Orleans filled me with inspiration, especially in the Syndey and Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden at the New Orleans Museum of Art. I took pictures and found a poem.  My friend, Dani Burtsfield from Montana, walked with me and found her own poem.  The two compliment each other like we do as friends.

 

 

 

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Slice of Life: A Book Festival Kind of Day

Posted in Bayou Song, Poetry, Slice of Life, Teaching, Writing, tagged , , on November 13, 2018| 5 Comments »

See more posts at Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life .

 

Bayou Song is on the wall of books!

The rains had ended, the cool front came through, adding an element of celebration (like Christmas) to the Louisiana Book Festival.  This year was the 15th annual book festival and the 15th awards ceremony for LA Writes, our state youth writing contest.  I have been involved since the first contest and the first book festival.  I always marvel at the young authors as they arrive dressed up with their whole extended families with them. It is an event for celebrating good writing and for families celebrating their authors.

My student Chloe reads her winning poem, Cool Words.

Following the wonderful awards ceremony, I offered a student writing workshop.  You never really know what kind of audience to expect.  I was delighted to have 3 writers join me.  One was a 6-year-old who wrote and drew, then buzzed around. Her mother said, “She’s doing a lap.”  Then she was back to writing and drawing.  The other two girls were a sister pair.  The older sister is a student at LSU.  I am not accustomed to teaching college kids, but I was pleasantly surprised at how she responded to my prompts.  She wrote an I am poem about the river. (Baton Rouge is located on the Mississippi River.) When I taught them about the zeno poem, she transformed her I am poem into a zeno.  This was an unexpected transfer that worked well for her poem.  She gave me permission to publish it here.

I am a rusted red river.
My mouth echoes
rising
flood.
I touch cities
with their
blood.
Reminder they
come from
mud.

–Jami Kleinpeter

Thanks, Jami, for enriching our lives with your poem and for showing me how a simple (meant for elementary kids) prompt can be transformed into a sophisticated and profound poem.

 

 

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Slice of Life: Commemorating Emma Wakefield Paillet

Posted in Poetry, tagged , , on November 6, 2018| 5 Comments »

See more posts at Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life .

Phebe Hayes with Emma Wakefield marker.

This weekend I had the opportunity to be a part of a historical event: the commemoration of Dr. Emma Wakefield Paillet. In early April, I met with Phebe Hayes, the founder of Iberia African American Historical Society. She shared with me her passion about a project to correct the history of our town, New Iberia, as well as our state’s history.  Through her research, she found that the first black woman to become a doctor in the state of Louisiana was Emma Wakefield Paillet. Emma graduated with honors from New Orleans University and was the only woman to take the medical exam in 1897.  She not only passed but “with honors, and submitted one of the best papers passed upon by the board.” (April 20, 1897 The Times-Democrat)

The unveiling of a historical marker in downtown New Iberia occurred almost 150 years after Emma Wakefield’s  birth on Nov. 21, 1868.  This momentous occasion was met with enthusiastic cheers.

Back in April, Phebe asked me to write a biography in poems about Emma.  I didn’t know if I was up to the task, but as I researched and studied literary voices of the time, I was inspired and wrote 21 poems about her life.  This book of poems is currently out on submission.  At the ceremony on Saturday, I read four of them.  I was moved by the emotion of the event and choked up on my own words.  I was embarrassed, but I just kept going.  Emma’s voice spoke through me.  I hope these poems will inspire others to learn about forgotten women who, like Emma, rose above poverty, oppression, and grief to become a hero.

Program and button with artwork by Dennis Paul Williams.

The opening poem is based on the African American spiritual Were You There first printed in 1899.

Were You There?

Were you there
when Momma held my hand?
when she walked with me to school?
when she knelt down in the sand?
when white men were so cruel?

Were you there
when babies cried at birth?
when Negroes cut the cane?
when shadows veiled the earth?
when teardrops fell like rain?

Were you there
when we finally broke the chains?
when hollow cries were heard?
when mothers’ sons were slain?
when I could read your word?

Oh, Lord, were you there?

–Margaret Simon, (c) 2018

 

 

 

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Poetry Friday: Autumn Morning

Posted in Photography, Poetry, Poetry Friday, tagged , , , on November 2, 2018| 14 Comments »

Poetry Friday round-up is with Jama at Jama’s Alphabet Soup.

 

Autumn takes its time coming to South Louisiana.  It comes in small, unnoticeable ways like the browning of cypress trees, or in larger, violent ways as in a storm leading a cold front. So here we are on the second day of November and temperatures have dropped to the 50’s, a pleasant change from the 80’s to 90’s of the previous six months.  I so envy the images of orange and red fall leaves filling the trees.

Since we have not changed our clocks quite yet, the sun is coming up later each morning, and I’ve noticed a heron on the bayou sitting right in the direct ray of the rising sun.  I tried to capture him with my telephoto lens, but he heard me and flew off.  No matter.  I can still write him into a poem.

Carol Varsalona curates a gallery at her blog site for every season.  Currently she is collecting images and poems for Abundant Autumn. I borrowed a photograph of a heron at the beach from fellow poet (and better photographer than me) Wendi Romero to use as a backdrop to my poem. I love how the challenges of Poetry Friday peeps push me to spread my writing wings.

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