Poetry | Reflections on the Teche

Archive for the ‘Poetry’ Category

SOL16: #21 Spring Sunrise

Posted in Poetry, Slice of Life, tagged bayou, nature, poetry, red buckeye on March 21, 2016| 11 Comments »

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Spring sunrise by Margaret Simon

First morning of spring, my husband said, “You’re missing a show outside.” He was right. I grabbed my camera and went out on the deck in my PJs. The air was cool, but the sun was coming up sending a beam of light down the bayou. There was a slight fog flying over the bayou. My mind wandered to poetry.

When the fog floats above the water
like it is today, I believe
I could walk on water,
strap on my angel wings
and move toward the light.

Could heaven be as beautiful as this?

–Margaret Simon

My friend Susan brought me a seedling of a Red Buckeye tree. Her note said, “I sprouted this seedling from a buckeye in our yard, so it should do well in yours also. I would recommend leaving it in its pot until next January keeping it watered and in partial shade. Hope that it thrives for you. Happy Spring!”

I have high hopes for this little tree. The problem is I usually kill plants. But this one came to me in the spirit of spring, new life. It must live, right? It has angel wings.

My red buckeye seedling

Blooming red buckeye

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SOL16: #18 Writing is like Praying

Posted in Poetry, Poetry Friday, Slice of Life, Spiritual Growth, Writing, tagged broken, nature, Sister Helen Prejean on March 18, 2016| 22 Comments »

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Poetry Friday round-up with Robyn Hood Black.

Writing is like praying, because you stop all other activities, descend into silence, and listen patiently to the depths of your soul, waiting for true words to come. When they do, you thank God because you know the words are a gift, and you write them down as honestly and cleanly as you can.

– Helen Prejean C.S.J.

Broken Pottery by Sweet Tea

Broken
shards of unwanted
clay, rock, soil
litter the ground.

There, unharmed, her hidden heart–
once protected by
earth mother, soft and dark,
now bravely

open like the flowers
in an abandoned field,
reaching for light.

–Margaret Simon

When you open yourself to the world, it will reveal itself to you. I opened two different emails. The first from Laura Shovan. She sent me the Sister Helen Prejean quote. A gift of a gift.

The second was Tabatha Yeatts’ blog post here. This image of the broken pottery grabbed me, and I opened the note on my computer and composed this poem. I know it comes from my heart that aches for a child whose home is not as it should be. Yet she is exactly who she should be, open and kind and full of joy. This broken pot. Her full heart. My attention.

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SOL16 #16 Don’t be too Serious

Posted in Poetry, Slice of Life, tagged student poetry on March 16, 2016| 10 Comments »

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I am an adult, and sometimes I just plain take myself too seriously. The last few days have brought some heavy news: The loss of someone who was once an important mentor to me, the observation from my administrator in order to give me a score for my teaching expertise, and the necessary surgery for my dog on an infected mole. The list adds up and weighs on my shoulders. I start to feel stressed and worried and somewhat out of control.

Then a child, one who faces what comes each day with absolutely no control, comes to me for a hug. Another child realizes a gift that she has for music is being recognized. And this child, a first grader, writes a ditty on her blog. I discovered it when I came home and started checking my Kidblog site. It brought a smile to my face and lightened my load. I hope it does the same for you.

I look outside, It is flooded. It is not that bad, but it is still flooded. When my mother told me to go get the mail, I could not even get by the mailbox. That is bad! There was water all around the mailbox. It was terribly crazy. When I saw it from window view, I thought this song up.

It is raining,

It is pouring,

I wish I was snoring,

I wish I were in bed,

So I would not bump my head,

And I would be able to get up in the morning.

Macaroni and Cheeze,

Yes, please!

Goodbye, Popeye!

–Lynzee, 1st grade

Reading time

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SOL16 #15 She Gave me a Rock

Posted in Poetry, Slice of Life, Teaching, tagged Amy Ludwig Vanderwater, Today's Little Ditty on March 15, 2016| 12 Comments »

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Over at Today’s Little Ditty, Michelle Heidenrich Barnes interviewed Amy Ludwig VanDerwater who set out a challenge this month to write about small things. We wrote our poems on Friday and I posted some student poems here.

When my kids write, I write. I looked at my desk for inspiration and found the rock. We had decided to do something nice for teachers, so Emily brought in rocks. My students wrote inspirational words on the rocks and gave them out to teachers. This was a Halloween treat, so this rock has been sitting on my desk for a while. I think it was supposed to go to the art teacher, but whatever, there it sat…and inspired this prose poem in me.

She gave me a rock,
a smooth small stone
on which she wrote a quote
from a book about a boy who was bullied.

If you have a choice
of being right or being kind,
be kind.

Thirteen words to turn
my attention everyday
to the world
of choices, that choice
within myself to be kind.

I take her small kindness
into my hand and wonder
about the river bank
the stone lived in before,
a place where violent waves
smoothed rock.

I wonder
about the larger truth:
Can violence smooth out
the edges and leave behind
kind?

–Margaret Simon

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SOL16 #14: Green is Here!

Posted in Poetry, Slice of Life, tagged cypress tree, green, nature poem on March 14, 2016| 11 Comments »

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New growth on cypress.

After all the grey clouds and rain, rain, rain,
green appeared today,
waking up from a long sleep,
twinkling in the sunlight.

The cypress trees are happy now,
their toes dipped in the water,
their needles as bright
as a neon sign.

“We’re waking up!” they say.
“Come see our new growth
soft as a baby’s forehead,
sweet as honeysuckle.”

Even the weeds are perky today,
pushing out tall stalks
beyond the brown grass,
topped with yellow buttercups.

Turn off your worrying mind.
It’s a day to open
windows and sneeze
Hello to Spring!

Resurrection fern on the old cypress.

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SOL16: #12 Celebrating Chalkabration

Posted in Celebration Saturday, Chalk-a-bration, Poetry, Slice of Life, tagged Amy Ludwig Vanderwater, chalk poetry, marbleized paper, Today's Little Ditty on March 12, 2016| 13 Comments »

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Chalkabration is a favorite in my class, but we haven’t done it in a while. This great way to write and share poetry was created by Betsy Hubbard, one of the Two Writing Teachers’ Team. It usually falls on the last day of the month. I like to have something special happen on Fridays as a reward for a week of hard work. My students have been writing every day. They are reading and working hard, so yesterday I brought in chalk and art paper.

First we had to write poems. On Michelle Barnes’ site Today’s Little Ditty, she interviewed one of our favorite poets, Amy Ludwig VanDerwater, about her new book Every Day Birds. Last year we Skyped with Amy on the day she had received the proofs for this book. We had an exclusive sneak peek at the book. Amy’s Ditty of the Month Challenge is to write about something small. (And I just happen to have a treasure box full.)

After we wrote and shared our poems, my students used Sharpie markers to write out their poems on art paper. Here comes the fun part. Into a bucket of water, we scraped chalk, placed the paper in and Viola! marbleized paper! We used Prang Freart Large Drawing Chalk.

Here is a collection of chalked poems.

Bell by Emily

Pencil by Kaiden

I Can’t Breathe by Kielan

Seashell by Erin

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

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SOL16: #10 Wait, Wait

Posted in Poetry, Writing, tagged God's presence, Spiritual poetry, wait on March 10, 2016| 17 Comments »

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Wait!

He said, “Wait here!”

Then he took a walk

just a short walk

into the garden

to talk

with the one who sent him,

the one with him always.

They didn’t wait.

They slept.

They couldn’t even stay awake for a moment.

When has he asked you to wait?

When did you need time to sort things out?

When did you sleep? Forget?

And yet, every time, he comes back to you,

holds out his hand to you,

Forgives,

Loves,

Waits

for you.

–Margaret Simon

Reflection: This Spiritual Thursday post is reflecting on Holly Mueller’s One Little Word, Wait. I didn’t want to write about wait. I’ve recently had to wait through an injury, wait for healing to come. The healing has come but slowly. In the meantime, I had to be patient and understand that I could not be who I wanted to be while I was healing. Some days, many days, I had to stop and rest. I needed to wait. But I was frustrated; I didn’t want to stay here. In the moment I wrote the word wait, I imagined Jesus’s request of his disciples in the garden of Gethsemane to wait while he prayed. I realize that I can wait. And, like Mary Oliver, I will be blessed even if all I do is stand right here.

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

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SOL16: #7 Another Tree

Posted in Photography, Poetry, Writing, tagged cypress tree, tree poem on March 7, 2016| 22 Comments »

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In February I took Kim Douillard’s photo challenge “One Tree.” I photographed and wrote a poem about our grandmother oak. Today I took pictures of another old tree. This one is a century-old cypress. It sits in the back surrounded by our deck. I can see it from my living room windows.

Cypress 1

Late winter sky
branches bare
reaching upward
in arabesque.

Cypress 2

Beauty builds in bold lines.
The cat climbs
crouches on a wide branch,
waiting.

Cypress 3

Whispers of wind
move wind chimes
watch the weather
and sense the day’s calm breath.

Cypress 4

This old tree cradles my bones,
my health, my heart.
Soon fresh citrus green will appear.
Showing me that life returns
again and again.

–Margaret Simon

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SOL16: #4 Horses

Posted in Poetry, Poetry Friday, Slice of Life, Writing, tagged found poem, horses on March 4, 2016| 15 Comments »

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Julie’s horse Abbie

I am not a horse person. Every day I drive down a country highway to my school. In fall I watched the swaying sugarcane. Now the fields are bare, and my attention turns to the pastures with horses. In one of these pastures there are three mares and two foals. They gather around the hay bale together.

I am reading The War that Saved my Life and riding alongside Ada on her pony, Butter.

I am writing a verse novel and decided I want my MC to go horseback riding. Having little experience with horses, I turned to my friend and writing critique partner, Julie Burchstead. Julie lives in Vermont, and she has horses. Here is a link to a poem she wrote about building the barn.

Her expertise will make its way into my WIP, but in the meantime, I played with her words and created a found poem.

In the Saddle
a found poem from an email from Julie Burchstead

Feel and smell leather reins.
The horse is warm.
Western saddles creak like leather shoes.
Even through the saddle,
you can sense their mood and their power.
You are on horse time, a different time all unto itself.
Your body falls into rhythm
of the horse’s movement
like being rocked.
Their bodies warm as their muscles warm,
sweat has a rich friendly scent-like hay and summer.

Find your center-like a dancer-a yoga practitioner-
Sit deep and tall.

I miss the days
galloping down the beach,
hair streaming, bareback,
the rhythm of hoofbeats,
the splash of water,
the connection you have
with a powerful living animal.

There is something healing
about a horse,
this huge animal
that trusts us.