Poetry | Reflections on the Teche

Archive for the ‘Poetry’ Category

Slice of Life: Saturated

Posted in Photography, Poetry, Slice of Life, Writing, tagged Annie Dillard, Bayou Teche, nature poem on May 3, 2016| 18 Comments »

Join the Two Writing Teachers blog for March Slice of Life Challenge.

Emerging from 30 days of poetry, words eluded me. I looked outside for inspiration. With my camera in hand, I captured the natural meaning of the word saturated.

Reflections in the flood by Margaret Simon

After three days of incessant rain, I am saturated.
The ground below is just a shadow.
My words are hiding there.

Resurrection Fern by Margaret Simon

Fern glistens in the emerging sun.
Beauty finds me
speechless.

Lizard face-off
by Margaret Simon

Like these lizards,
face to face
puff up and show their true colors,
I dive back in,
searching for the light.

Bayou Sunspot
by Margaret Simon

When I am not even trying, poetry finds me. In reflection of her month-long poem-a-day writing, Violet Nesdoly posted this quote from Annie Dillard.

Anything you do not give freely and abundantly becomes lost to you. You open your safe and find ashes. – Annie Dillard

I turn to poetry when I feel inadequate. When I’m not sure what to write, creating a verse moves me forward. So here I am again, no challenge, no poem-a-day, just me, opening the page, and giving freely, so my writing will not turn to ashes.

Read Full Post »

NPM16 #30 Final Poem of the Month

Posted in Poetry, Writing, tagged #NPM16, altered books, Amy Ludwig Vanderwater, Irene Latham, Laura Purdie Salas, Progressive poem on April 30, 2016| 17 Comments »

Ruth Ayres invites us the celebrate each week. Click over to her site Discover. Play. Build. to read more celebrations.

This week was state testing week. We made it through. Because I am an extra teacher, I was assigned a small group to test. The routine was changed. I stayed at one school all day.

When on Friday the test was over, I resumed my routine. My students were so excited to see me again. They truly missed me. I think they also missed the flexibility of our days. It was as though they could breathe again.

I celebrate the love I share with my students while I am sad to realize the year is quickly coming to an end. So many activities planned; end-of-the-year picnics, talent shows, and field trips will interrupt my class again and again.

I want to stay calm about it all, so I planned a creative end-of-the-year project. We are making re-purposed books. They will paint the pages of a discarded book and add art and writing to them. They are already excited, and the mess making has begun. I celebrate creativity and mess making.

I am altering a book as well. This inspires the creative side of me. No one sees it, really, so I let go of my inhibitions about my art talent and just do it. Here’s a page I’ve painted waiting for a poem.

Pass the scissors
then the glue;
I am pasting poems
in a book.

Make a mess
filling the pages
with happy words.

Anyone can make a book.
Let’s make a book today!

National Poetry Month is at the end. I thought it would never come. Writing a poem a day has been a challenge. I celebrate all the poets out there writing daily and inspiring me and my students to do the same.

I celebrate Irene Latham who blogs here. She generously Skyped with my students on Poem in your Pocket Day. She listened patiently while they shared their own poems and responded with nothing but kindness. She even answered a question about whether or not she felt haunted. (Kids say the darnedest things.) But Irene handled it like a champ. She told my students that she likes to visit graveyards and feel the presence of people who have gone before.

Irene offered excellent advice about finding new words; brainstorm a list of words about your topic. Then mark them all out and start again. This forces you to find new and unusual words.

I also want to thank Laura Purdie Salas whose putrid poetry gave my students permission to write about poop and other yucky stuff.

And what would NPM be without Amy Ludwig VanDerwater? She wondered with us all month long and inspired my students to write about their world.

Thank you to all my readers who stuck with me each day as I attempted to entertain the poetic muse. Here’s to another wonderful National Poetry Month. Do not be mistaken, though. Poetry is made for every day!

Donna has the final line to the Progressive Poem and it is just right!

Read Full Post »

NPM16 #29: Words

Posted in Poetry, Poetry Friday, Teaching, Writing, tagged #imagepoems, Mary Oliver, nature poem, Rumi, steal like an artist, word groups on April 29, 2016| 11 Comments »

Poetry Friday round-up at Buffy’s Blog.

Where do you find words? I am always in search of the right words, whether I am writing a poem or a blog post or a Facebook message. The right words in the right order.

As I sat next to Vannisa while she revised a poem to enter into a 4-H poetry contest, she and I stared at the screen. She was looking for the last stanza, the inner thinking, that punch of an ending. Where were the words she need?

I pulled out a precious Mary Oliver book from the shelf, A Thousand Mornings. Vanissa swept her hand over the cover. She knows it feels soft, like silk. I read aloud the last lines of some of Mary Oliver’s poems. I was teaching Vannisa how to “steal like an artist.”

This is the list we made:

earth-praise
temple
my heart
angels singing

I can’t share her final draft because we’ve sent it in. Maybe she will win. But we both won when we sat together with the master Mary Oliver and celebrated the right words.

As I continue to write a poem a day (Just one more day, folks!), I decided to use these stolen words in a poem of my own.

Melody

The male cardinal
wakes us every morning
with his earth-praise–
monotone,
happy tone
morning music making.

I nudge the cat
to move off my foot
stretch out of bed
while you stay, softly snoring.

Coffee brews.
The day wakes.
My body is still tired.

But this cardinal
is determined in his glory-making.
He persists
until I turn and see
angels

singing along
in his tree-temple
making melody
of the morning.

–Margaret Simon

Read Full Post »

NPM16 #28: Dragonfly Eyes

Posted in Photography, Poetry, tagged dragonfly, haiku, nature poem on April 28, 2016| 9 Comments »

dragonfly eyes by Margaret Simon, all rights reserved

Rest your agile flight
on a sunbeam, look about

with dragonfly eyes.

While I was attempting to get a photo of bees that are extremely active in a flowering tree, this dragonfly lit upon an African iris. I had the telephoto lens on. I was so excited that I captured such an amazing close-up. So clear I could see the eyes of the dragonfly.

Read Full Post »

NPM16 #27: Help Needed

Posted in Poetry, Solomon House, Writing, tagged #imagepoems, #NPM16, Poem a Day on April 27, 2016| 4 Comments »

Most every Tuesday, I wake early to serve at Solomon House, a mission of my church and a food bank. My self-appointed job is to find the clients’ names on a printed spreadsheet, check their IDs, and have them sign. During this process, I say good morning, how are you today, and have a great day. And most times they say these same greetings to me. I feel blessed by their presence, their love, and this small way to be a blessing to someone else.

There are places where
buttercups bloom
unattended
no one cares
or notices.

They bloom anyway.

There are people
nobody sees
walking alone on the street
clothes in need of cleaning
backs aching from failure.

The news speaks for itself
but I can help.

My hands are warm and kind;
they reach for you.

My mind is clear and focused;
I think of you.

My shoulder is light and flexible;
I can carry your burden.

I see buttercups.

I see you.

–Margaret Simon

Read Full Post »

NPM16: #26 Oneness

Posted in Poetry, Slice of Life, Writing, tagged #NPM16, Access Oneness video, Poem a Day on April 26, 2016| 13 Comments »

Join the Two Writing Teachers blog for March Slice of Life Challenge.

Here I am again at this blank page. I click to “add media,” setting the stage for yet another poem.

I find myself looking all day long for inspiration. Will it come in the opening of a flower? The words of a child? Advice from a friend? The pages of a book?

I look and look.

Sometimes I open this page afraid that nothing will happen.

But something always does. Because when you show up to the page, magic happens.

A video posted by “Access Oneness” and shared by two Facebook friends intrigued me. The inscription read, “So, you lose balance and you fall … but, what do you do next? Stop? Or go on? Make art out of falling …”

Go to this link to view the video.

I was caught off-guard, unbalanced, not knowing what to feel except inspired, exhilarated.

The words flowed.

In the purple forest
one can climb
stand
slip
fall
rise again
All in the moment
of stillness
above the water
A choice
to fall
and fail,
or balance
and dance–
A chance
to fly.

–Margaret Simon

Read Full Post »

NPM16: #25 Ode to April

Posted in Photography, Poetry, tagged Kim Douillard, nature poem, odes on April 25, 2016| 3 Comments »

Magnolia

Heading outside for some well-needed Vitamin N; Kim Douillard posted about this necessary vitamin here, and invited us to post photos from our outings. So this post with be a photo ode as well as a poetic one.

To the tune of the lawnmower
and the cardinal at the birdbath,
April harmonizes
and paints the air
with buzzing bees
and wispy contrails.

Yesterday, today, and tomorrow flowers

April celebrates Cathy’s birthday;
She shows me how to
stop and smell the flowers.
She names them for me:
“Yesterday, today, and tomorrow
is deep purple yesterday,
violet today,
and white tomorrow.”

pineapple guava

April holds a pineapple guava
ripe with red nectar
while the cashmere bouquet
hides its treasure
beneath wing-like leaves.

cashmere bouquet

April rains make a gentle waterfall
of a mere coulee, a watering hole
for passing dogs in the park.

April is as I imagine heaven,
bright with new light,
flowing on the breeze
a kite with strings
made of flowers.

Read Full Post »

NPM16 #23 Celebrating Celebrations

Posted in Celebration Saturday, Chalk-a-bration, Poetry, Writing, tagged chalk poetry, Earth Day, Poetry Slam, Reading Rocket, Shakespeare on April 23, 2016| 9 Comments »

Ruth Ayres invites us the celebrate each week. Click over to her site Discover. Play. Build. to read more celebrations.

At the beginning of the week, someone noticed that we had filled the reading rocket chart. I put this on the bulletin board way back in August. The goal seemed so high then, 175 books! Each square on the rocket counted for 5 books. Every time a student had read 5 books, he/she could cut out a square and place it on the chart. And here we are with 20 days left of the school year, and the chart is full! This called for a celebration, so I bought Halos and powdered donuts and we had a feast.

My oldest student, Kielan, decided we should have a poetry slam to end our month of poetry. (Next week is testing week.) We watched two videos with appropriate poetry performances. I told them that usually performance poets tackle a social issue. Then I let them go. They formed groups, collaborated, practiced, and performed their poems on Friday. I even got into the act by collaborating with Emily and performing with her. I videoed their performances and plan to make each a DVD to keep. The only person invited to watch was the janitor, and she was so honored to be there.

This is Tobie and Kaiden’s poem. Everyone was so impressed with these boys that we are encouraging them to enter the talent show.

Eracism

Get up out your chair
you have the power to
do something in this
society

You have the power to
Eracism
Stop the racism start
Eracism
Lower society’s bar try to
Eracism
Laws are changed just because you’re different, try
Eracism
You have the power to
Eracism

Stop
the
Racism
Just because you’re different
Doesn’t mean you should be treated differently
lets try to
ERACISM

Tobie and Kaiden

Friday was also Earth Day, so we grabbed our journals and chalk and wrote Earth Day poems on the sidewalk.

Today is Shakespeare’s 452nd birthday. In celebration, Michelle Barnes is hosting 5 for Friday on her blog here.

Here’s my Little Shakespearean 5 word ditty:

The Course of True Love

begins
when the eyes
see

Read Full Post »

NPM16 #21 Rejuvenation

Posted in Poetry, Spiritual Growth, tagged spiritual journey, spring poems on April 21, 2016| 5 Comments »

Join the Spiritual Thursday round up at Reading, Teaching, Learning.

I love the surprises of spring. Every year some flower that I don’t expect appears and delights me. This year there is a clump of iris in my front flower bed. I don’t remember so many of them blooming at once. On the back deck, a shasta daisy has popped up out of a pot. Spring surprises.

Holly tweeted a call for Spiritual Journey topics. She chose the word “rejuvenation.” We were suggesting words like renew and rebirth. All of these words speak to these new surprises in my yard. A synonym poem seemed in order. I also wanted to play with a repeated word, “there,” because I feel like I am pointing to these sweet surprises of new life. Look, over there, see what I see.

There the renewal of light in trees
illuminates tones of green.
Outside the store, a sign
“Spring colors are in”

There a refreshing scent
Rain hangs heavy on
jasmine, sweet olive

There renovating time–early rising–
that expectant darkness
when prayers are silent.

There restoring my soul
from under the heavy blankets
listening to the music
spill in from the window.

–Margaret Simon

Jan is adding a line to the Progressive Poem today. Click the image.

Read Full Post »

NPM16: #20 A Tree Grows…

Posted in Poetry, tagged #imagepoems, Amy Ludwig Vanderwater, Catherine Flynn, National Poetry Month, Poem a Day on April 20, 2016| 4 Comments »

Yesterday, my student Lani was featured on Today’s Little Ditty with a reverso poem inspired by the book Water Rolls, Water Rises by Pat Mora.

Amy Ludwig VanDerwater is writing a poem a day about daily Wonders on Wonderopolis. I love how her website speaks directly to students about the writing process. On Monday, Amy wrote, “I began thinking about the value of sharing our stories, the sad ones as well as the happy ones.” Her poem was a before/after poem that held universal truths about the sadness of broken marriages.

There’s a sadness weighing on my mind. It’s not my loss, but even when others suffer a loss, we grieve. It’s the way of the world.

My writing friend, Catherine Flynn wrote a poem about Crystal Rapids in the Grand Canyon, but the poem was about so much more. This stanza speaks to that deep grief that comes back over and over.

“The path is altered,
a chasm opens.
Never fully healed,
full of fissures that can crack
without warning,
bringing us to our knees.” (Catherine Flynn)

Sometimes writing poetry is about diving into the sadness, entering in, and letting it all go. Inspired by Amy’s and Catherine’s poetic honesty, I wrote this poem for B. She’s probably not ready to read it. But I needed to write it.

A Tree Grows near the Pier

Before
when the sun rose,
so did he,
fishing pole in hand,
tackle in a box.
His heart full of hope.
His mind full of lures.

After
the boat lost him,
so did we,
as a tree grows
near his tackle box;
Its branches open wide
for resurrection fern.

–Margaret Simon