Poetry | Reflections on the Teche

Archive for the ‘Poetry’ Category

Make Good Art

Posted in Poetry, Slice of Life, tagged Acadiana Wordlab, magnolia, Neil Gaiman, One Little Word, watercolor on May 20, 2014| 10 Comments »

Join the Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life Challenge.

Open
My one little word
finds me;
open your eyes
to your own heart;
listen
to what she loves.

I painted a magnolia
in cadmium blue and crimson red.
Do you see the red and blue?
To make good art,
first you must see.

I saw the perfect magnolia
hanging in my neighbor’s tree,
the one ravaged by a hurricane,
yet today,this tree sings
its magnolia hymn to heaven.

Now I see, magnolia to magnolia,
critical eye turned off,
yes, beauty, art.
Make this art.
Who cares about appreciation,
glorification, success (whatever that means),
just create.

I see magnolia to magnolia–happiness.
This is all I need.

–Margaret Simon, written at Acadiana Wordlab May 17, 2014

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Poetry in Math Class

Posted in Blogging, Poetry, Poetry Friday, Teaching, Writing, tagged Betsy Franco, Math Poetry on May 16, 2014| 9 Comments »

Poetry Friday Round-up is with Elizabeth Steinglass.

State testing is done, so I took the opportunity to shift focus in my small math group. In this group, I teach one 4th grader, two 3rd graders, and one 2nd grader. The resource I used was Betsy Franco’s Math Poetry. In this book, there are mentor texts from Betsy as well as student models. Each type of poetry is explained in simple instructions with a form for copying.

My students wrote a draft on the form and posted their poems on our kidblog site. For a final product, they made accordion books. I am not usually a fan of using fill in the blank forms for writing, but these leave space for creativity as well as the safety of a formula to follow. It was successful for my young students. They enjoyed writing and especially loved posting on the class blog. (If you click on the blog link, you will also see that a group of boys had a good time challenging each other with Riddle-ku poems after Laura Purdie Salas.)

If I were 10 Centimeters Tall

If I were only 10 centimeters tall,
I’d use a sponge as my bed and the softest cotton ball as my pillow,
A remote control car would be my ride
An Iphone would be a plasma screen T.V.
I’d watch out for rats which would be a horrible beast.
But it would be seriously fun if I could be 10 centimeters tall,
I’d be the world champion in swimming in your kitchen sink.
by Emily, 3rd grade

Emily’s accordion book

160 Beautiful Bows (an addition poem)

160 beautiful bows
On a cheerleaders head.
80 of them shimmer in the light,
The other 80 speak to you.

‘You can do it’
Together,
They make a perfect couple
Which is a cheerleaders dream.

They can have shimmering
Speaking baby bows.
Oh how I, Kielan,
Would love
To have some bows like that!

–Kielan, 4th grade

Fractions of Me

1/6 of me is a poet like Shakespeare
I come up with lovely, sweet, and cute poems.

1/6 of me is a artist.
I can get inspired by any little thing.

1/6 of me is a nature lover.
I hate when they cut down trees.

1/6 of me is a singer.
I will sing about anything.

1/6 of me is a dancer.
I can dance as grateful as a swan.

1/6 of me has a wild imagination.
I see dogs dancing and unicorns kissing.
–Erin, 2nd grade

Erin’s Fractions of Me accordion book

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Poetry in the News

Posted in Poetry, Slice of Life, Writing, tagged Acadiana Wordlab, Clare L. Martin, Hydra, hydrilla, monster, swamp on May 6, 2014| 5 Comments »

Join the Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life Challenge.

Hydrilla

Acadiana Wordlab keeps me in touch with my creative side. This weekend Clare Martin led us in a mysterious exercise. Well, she touted it as a mysterious exercise. In truth, she led us in open-ended prompts.

For our first round of writing, she had us each choose a page of the newspaper. I grabbed an article about Hydrilla, a plant that is invading local marshes. I was fascinated by the article and learned about this intrusive species as well as about the mythical creature for which it is named. My poem is more of a found poem, reworking words from the article. I can see this activity working in the classroom, finding poetry in the news.

Hydrilla

Hydra, that nine-headed creature,
kept growing heads—two
for every one cut off.

This monster invaded the lake years ago
choking waterways, native plants,
and your boat’s propeller.

Beware! it grows over
and under the swamp, a nuisance,
a bother, a downright sore oppressor.

There is a plan from the parish president
to lower the level of water
dry out the hellacious suckers.

“Time to nurture kindness
to our natural ecosystem, to restore
the old cycle of flood to dry-bed.”

Don’t let your heart bleed
for this monstrous water weed.
Just allow the soft earth to learn

from her mistakes,
To chop off its head and wait
with a hatchet in hand to catch
the two growing back.

–Margaret Simon, all rights reserved

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DigiLit Sunday: Haiku Deck

Posted in Digital Learning, Gifted Education, Poetry, Teaching, tagged Bees, Butterflies, Carole Gerber, choka, Haiku Deck on May 4, 2014| 6 Comments »

Please use this button on your site for DigiLit Sunday posts

Tweet with #k6diglit.

I have had some struggles with using Haiku Deck in my classroom due to the network blocks on our server. I’m sure this is an issue for others as we use new apps in our classrooms. I found a way this week to make it work. The server blocks the images, but not the app. I taught my students about fair use of photos from the Internet. We search images on Google, click on Search Tools, and click on Labeled for reuse. This limits greatly the number of images we can choose from. However, when using a web-based app, I feel it is important to use the images rightly.

The poetry writing exercise included a discussion of imagery and how scientific poems can use imagery to help your reader understand a concept. We looked through poetry books and found model poems that used imagery. We read together the poem Helianthus from Seeds, Bees, Butterflies, and More! by Carole Gerber.
“If saying ‘helianthus’ makes you cower…
use our common name–
Sunflower!”
Vannisa chose to write a haiku about sunflowers. She actually wrote three haikus, so I told her that a long poem using the haiku syllable count is called a Choka.

To see the full poem on Haiku Deck, click here.

Inspired by Carole Gerber’s big name poem, Matthew wrote about Charcharodon Carcharias or Great White Sharks. Matthew managed to work in a line he lifted from the book he is reading.

Matthew’s full poem is here:

An InLinkz Link-up

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Chalkabration Haiku

Posted in Chalk-a-bration, Gifted Education, Poetry, Teaching, Writing, tagged chalkabration, chalku, haiku, teaching gifted on April 30, 2014| 3 Comments »

Join the Chalk-a-bration over at Teaching Young Writers.

Believe it or not, it’s the last day of April and the last day I will be posting Chalk-a-bration with this year’s bunch. I hope they will participate from home over the summer, though. My principal enjoys our chalking-up-the-sidewalks-with-poetry so much that she has asked us to decorate the walkways for the mother’s breakfast, “Muffins with Mom,” next week.

As we continue to work our way through the ABC’s of poetry, we have landed on H, and what better form to use for chalketry than haiku. We should coin the term, “Chalku.” Lots of different thoughts going on today. I was thinking about the humidity that has moved in thick and warm; the cold weather has definitely moved on. Vannisa is thinking about the end of school and summer coming. Kendall responded to music I played. I love the variety of ideas as much as the consistency of form.

This humidity
makes my hair curl like wild weeds,
all helter-skelter.
by Margaret Simon

Playing soft and smooth
having a fast-paced tempo.
Music comes from you.
by Kendall

School is almost out.
Summer means no more homework.
Summer’s almost here.
by Vannisa

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It’s Monday: What are you Reading

Posted in Books, Poetry, Spiritual Growth, Teaching, Writing, tagged Amy Voskamp, fibonacci poem, Greg Pincus on April 28, 2014| 5 Comments »

In yesterday’s DigiLit Sunday post, I talked about joining in this weekly round-up, It’s Monday: What are you Reading? I dreamt about it all night, so I guess the time is now to join in. The round-up can be found at Teach Mentor Texts.

For my spiritual life, I am currently reading the memoir of Amy Voskamp. I am enjoying her fresh language and her real struggle to find joy in every day. She makes a list of 1000 gratitudes. In making the list, she discovers joy in giving thanks and encourages, through her real experience, us to do the same.

I am reading 14 Fibs of Gregory K in preparation for a Skype visit with Greg Pincus next month. My boys enjoyed this book. In Gregory K, we have a boy in a family of mathematicians who is a writer. Each chapter begins with a clever Fib poem. Greg Pincus invented the form using the Fibonacci series as syllable counts. This is a great form to use with students. Greg’s debut novel is as clever as he is, but somehow his character just keeps getting deeper and deeper into a fib of his own. I am looking forward to visiting with Greg soon.

My own Fib poem, which is completely true.

We
find
magic
when poems
reveal inner truth
and breathe out a sigh of Ah, yes!

–Margaret Simon

Today, I am the guest blog post at Laura Shovan’s Author Amok. For poetry month, she asked writers to submit a n essay about a source poem. I wrote about a professional struggle that ended in my discovery of myself and Mary Oliver’s wisdom in “Wild Geese.” It was harder than I thought it would be to let this go public. I want to thank Laura for her continued encouragement and inspiration to me as a writer.

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Celebrating Spring emerging Joy

Posted in Blogging, Celebration Saturday, Poetry, Teachers Write, Writing, tagged ABCs of poetry, Bonne Terre Cottage, family, Festival Internationale, TeacherPoets on April 26, 2014| 7 Comments »

This has been such a welcomed relaxing week. I am celebrating today with many others in the blogging community. Ruth Ayres sponsors a round-up. Click the image above to follow.

I Celebrate…

1. Easter weekend with family: Here we are trying out a food truck in New Orleans, Taceaux Loceaux. 5 Stars!

2. Writing retreat at Bonne Terre Cottage in Breaux Bridge.

Bonne Terre Cottage, Breaux Bridge. Photo by Chere Coen

3. Dancing at Festival Internationale in Lafayette.

My dance instructor, Lou, dances with legendary Zydeco Joe.

4. Writing a poem every day. Today is Q, so I wrote a Questionku. The form uses 3 lines with syllable count of 4,5,6 and ends with a question.

5. Teacher poets community. Such a supportive place to talk about poetry and workshop poems. Chris Lehman is a wonderful leader and generous to give his time to nurture our creativity.

Join TeacherPoets community hang outs on Saturday.

6. Connecting with teacher/writer/blogger Holly Mueller I sent Holly a copy of Blessen. She fell in love with her character. Thanks, Holly, for sharing the love.

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A Gift and a Pantoum

Posted in Gratitude, Poetry, Spiritual Growth, Writing, tagged One Thousand Gifts, pantoum, poetry, spirituality on April 25, 2014| 11 Comments »

Poetry Friday Round-up is with Tabatha Yeatts at The Opposite of Indifference

Poetry can take you to unexpected places. This was my experience with writing a Pantoum. The form seems simple, yet it complicates things. The form is made up of 4-line stanzas. The second and fourth lines of the first quatrain become the first and third lines of the second, and this pattern continues. Often the last line repeats the first; although, mine did not. Poetry forms can both confine the writer and free her. In my experience, the rhymes confined me, yet the message I thought I was making changed with the writing.

A writing group friend gave me a book this week, One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp. It drew me in immediately. Her writing style is fresh. She writes with intelligence and honesty. I took a line from her second chapter, “How I wrestle with last night’s dream,” and then looked at notes from my meditation journal. I thought I would write about God as a loving center. The poem, however, seems more about my love, my husband, and his ever present trust in my life. You never know where a poem may lead. Sometimes we just have to follow.

How I wrestle with last night’s dream.
The words have all been said before,
nothing new, what can they mean,
written on the stone of this cold floor?

The words have all been said before.
I reach for your open hand so near
writing my love on the stone cold floor
words to erase my fear.

I reach for your open hand so near
like a child reaches for her mother.
Words will erase my fear
with trust in honesty and one another.

Like a child reaching for her mother,
I recognize that look on your face
with trust in honesty and one another,
open to your willing embrace.

–Margaret Simon, all rights reserved.

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Ode to Mint

Posted in Poetry, tagged ABCs of poetry, odes, Pablo Neruda, Poem in your Pocket Day on April 24, 2014| 1 Comment »

The master of the ode is Pablo Neruda. Today, being the letter O in my ABC series of poetry, I pulled out Odes to Common Things. This is a lovely book, full of wandering odes and fine drawings of ordinary things from spoons to oranges and even socks. I love to read these odes aloud. To listen to the sound of the language as well as relish the metaphor.

From Ode to the orange

“Orange,
the world was made
in your likeness
and image:
the sun was made round, surrounded
by peels of flame,
and night strewed its engine and its path
with your blossoms.”

To write my own ode, I only had to look for what I love and adore in the ordinary day. And it had to be mint. I brew tea every day with mint. I crave Thin Mint cookies and Dark Chocolate Mint M&Ms. I grow a pot of mint, and I recall the mint flavor of tzatziki on my trip to Greece. Italics indicate lines from Neruda.

Give us this day
mint,
fresh from the garden
overflowing wandering flower,
your scent
waters my mouth,
makes tea
taste of heaven
sent by Greek Gods
churned in the waters
of the Aegean Sea.
I relish your comfort,
basket-brewed
by my side.
The scent of wandering spring
singing your song,
Glory to God; Alleluia for mint
wrapped in dark chocolate
dropped in M&Ms,
green spring
brings to life
my taste buds
and my love
of herbal scents,
freshness
refreshes my wandering mind,
tames this wild spirit,
hallows the good earth.

Today is Poem in your Pocket Day. Find a poem. Share a poem today.

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Bird Watching (Nature Poem)

Posted in Poetry, Spiritual Growth, tagged 10, Bonne Terre Cottage, Luke: 9, nature poem on April 23, 2014| 2 Comments »

Bonne Terre Cottage, Breaux Bridge. Photo by Chere Coen

Bird Watching

I.
I cannot know
what has brought you
here this morning,
little hummer
with your ever-excited wings,
your deep red throat.
You hover
catch me watching
from my corner on the porch swing
and you disappear
leaving no sign
of your previous
energetic existence.

II.
I want to own
the mystery
hidden inside this moment.
Yet, my part is just
to be here
present with bird song
echoing in the air,
to praise you,
creator of all,
creator of me.

III.
It is true
that I am
not important.
It is also true
that my name
is written in heaven.
Even the foxes have holes,
birds their nests.*
Like the chickadee
pecking at the feeder
or the hawk circling above,
my spirit belongs
to the earth
to dust I will be.

–Margaret Simon, all rights reserved

*Luke: 9,10