Poetry | Reflections on the Teche

Archive for the ‘Poetry’ Category

National Poetry Month

Posted in Poetry, Slice of Life, Teaching, Writing, tagged Amy Vanderwater, poetry about poetry on April 1, 2014| 8 Comments »

Join the Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life Challenge.

Rather convenient that the last day of the Slice of Life Challenge month fell on a Monday, so the regular Tuesday Slice of Life followed. No rest for the weary. Let’s just keep up the momentum. Why stop now?

That’s what I said to my students as they wrote their final slices. Let’s keep this going. So my plans for the month of April is to challenge my students to write a poem a day. Now April is a busy month. Next week we have state testing all week. The last week of April is our Easter/Spring break. I hope you will visit occasionally on our kidblog to read their poems and comment.

National Poetry Month 2014 is exciting and busy! I will try to post a poem a day using different forms. I have a few guest posts coming up; one for Caroline Starr Rose about writing poems using anaphora, and another one about source poems for Laura Shovan. I will link up on the days that these are posted. I am also participating in Irene Latham’s Progressive Poem (links on the sidebar.)

Flickr by Maureen

Let’s begin with a poem about poetry. This poem was prompted by a quote from Amy Vanderwater in an interview posted on Jone MacCullough’s site: Check it out.

“usually I just let a poem find the voice it wants to find.”

Let a poem find the voice it wants to find.

Real things can happen there,
even imaginary ones.
Dreams…yes,
dreams, too.

Poems hide in unexpected places,
their voices buried in the sand.
Grab your shovel.
Let’s dig them out.

Take me with you on the walk with your new poem.
Let’s build a castle together.
Whisper softly the sound of the ocean waves.

I’ll know when I hear your special voice.
Words will find me watching.
Words will find the hearts they need to find.

–Margaret Simon, all rights reserved.

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Bougainvillea

Posted in Poetry, Slice of Life, tagged Laura Purdie Salas, nonfiction rhyming poetry, Teaching Authors on March 27, 2014| 6 Comments »

Slice of Life Day 27. Join the Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life Challenge.

I was suffering with severe “noideaitis,” a term created by my student Magic Matt. So I traveled around the kitlit blogosphere for inspiration. I found some at the site Teaching Authors. I follow Laura Purdis Salas on her blog, and she has just recently joined the Teaching Authors. Her Wednesday Writing Workout post outlined a process for writing a rhyming nonfiction poem. I gave it a shot. Recently I bought some new spring flowers for my deck. One of these is a bougainvillea. I just love saying the name. I looked it up on Wikipedia and learned all I needed to know to write a quick poem. As Laura suggested, I used Rhymezone to find rhyming words. I don’t think the results are brilliant, but they do teach a bit about this mouthful of a plant.

The actual flower of the bougainvillea is a small cluster of three white flowers in the center.

Bougainvillea

Bougainvillea is a thorny, ornamental vine.
From Brazil or Peru, paper petals intertwine.

The actual flower will fool ya’
hiding white in the bracts of Bougainvillea.

Each heart-shaped leaf steadily climbs.
Don’t you want to say it three times?

Bougainvillea
Bougainvillea
Bougainvillea

Red bougainvillea on my deck looking all perky and springy.

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Butterweed

Posted in Poetry, Slice of Life, tagged butterweed, Louisiana, poetry, spring, wildflowers on March 25, 2014| 5 Comments »

Slice of Life Day 25. Join the Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life Challenge.

Driving down the road,
I stop to praise the wildflowers
guarding the gully
like yellow-billed soldiers.

I praise your sensible size,
clustered in God’s bouquet,
open to the arrival of bees,
spreading the wings of spring.

Your beauty is the first swamp color,
popping up in winter’s wake.
A glorious butterweed ribbon
unbounded, blowing in the fresh breeze.

Even with your death, you feed us,
such is the circle of life,
from compost to crawfish,
trapped, boiled, and Cayenne-peppered,
just in time for Good Friday Feasts.

–Margaret Simon

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Full Ides (of March) Moon

Posted in Poetry, Slice of Life, Writing, tagged erasure poetry, found poem, full moon alert, Jim Foret on March 17, 2014| 9 Comments »

Slice of Life Day 17. Join the Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life Challenge.

I have a tree-hugging naturalist friend who sends out an email every month around the time of the full moon. His email is called Full Moon Alert or FMA.

One of the methods of writing I enjoy is erasure poetry or found poetry. I often find a poem in Jim’s FMA.

Full Ides (of March) Moon

Full moon rises Sunday at sunset.
Spring officially starts Friday,
Buds swelling,
swamp red maples coming into bloom,
thangs were moving y’all.

Sky reverberates
with the smudge of cranes.
I love you little.
I love you big.

My ladies are working hard already.
European honey bees are an all-girl operation,
and these are happy dancing
their butter butts, like the warblers
catching Crane flies.

A pair of raptors dive spectacularly,
two lovers celebrating newfound love
in this the season of love.

Happy spring y’all!

Get out and enjoy the fine spring weather.
Get out and stand there with your mouth open
watching that moonrise and sunset with loved ones.
What a gift! And bring some little ones along.

–Margaret Simon, found from Possum Foret’s FMA March 15, 2014

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I want to stay

Posted in Poetry, Slice of Life, Writing, tagged meditation, relax, teaching, yoga on March 13, 2014| 9 Comments »

Slice of Life Day 13. Join the Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life Challenge.

I want to stay here
in deep meditation
focusing on one word,
letting light dance in my eyes,
letting go of stress.
Let me stay a little longer.

I want to stay here
in this warm shower
with scents of fresh herbs, a hint of rose
rubbing my itching scalp.
Steam wraps me in comfort.
Let me stay a little longer.

I want to stay here
reading in my teacher chair
while kids are spotted all around
with noses in their books.
I stop to read a favorite line.
Can I stay here a little longer?

I want to stay here
in shavasana, toes pointing to heaven,
holding my color focal point
melting away the day,
bowing in namaste,
Please let me stay.

photo by Pierce Martin, labeled for reuse on Flickr

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Ten Things Right Now

Posted in Books, Gratitude, Poetry, Slice of Life, Writing, tagged flowers, spring, ten things on March 11, 2014| 15 Comments »

Slice of Life Day 11. Join the Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life Challenge.

Faced with another Slice, I turned to the Two Writing Teachers blog for inspiration. Never fails. On March 8th, they featured an idea used by blogger Mandy Robek “10 Things Right Now.”

1. My friend, James Edmunds (Poor Clio) posted on Facebook “loved today’s March watercolor sunshine.”

2. Reading poetry by Barbara Crooker.

each day, we climb
a few more inches
up the ladder of light,
and grackles and redwings
return, bringing postcards
of tropical sun.

3. Started A Snicker of Magic: Felicity Juniper Pickle collects words:

Popsicle
Paper star
Poppy-seed muffin

4. Tulips on the kitchen table.

5. Remembering my Uncle Stu. His funeral was yesterday in Georgia. I wasn’t there. My mother wasn’t there. I thought of my cousins all day long. My uncle always hated to say goodbye.

6. My husband has been cancer free for 8 years! Here’s a picture of his new running shoes. Aren’t they cool? St. Patrick’s Day green!

Jeff’s new running shoes

7. Meditating for two weeks. Here is a sample from my journal:

Meditation on the words from Emily Dickinson, “Love is the furniture.”
The chair holds me, all my thoughts I brush away with a word.
I sit again and again
in silence, waiting for angel’s wings,
symbols of love.
No words, no thought.
Just light
twisted, jeweled light
wrapping me up in love.

–Margaret Simon

8. The return of my former student to Slice with us. I have missed her voice. This is a small sample of a poem she wrote about Mother Nature. Our class blog is here.

Her feelings come and go
As quickly as leaves fall
In the brisk autumn months.
Her heart will always be with the earth.
If you are quiet, you can hear her heart thumping, thumping,
Dancing to the beat of the cicada song,

9. Cooking with my daughter: The menu is shrimp tacos with mango salsa.

10. Supportive principals: School #1, I got permission to take my 5 gifted students to a local fast food restaurant to solicit donations for an upcoming community service project. School #2, One of my third graders wants to raise funds and food for the local Humane Society. She wrote out notes of her plan and presented it to the principal at recess. She got the go ahead.

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Stormy Weather

Posted in Poetry, Slice of Life, Writing, tagged Author Amok, color poems, Laura Shovan, metaphor, Pantone colors, weather on March 4, 2014| 7 Comments »

Slice of Life Day 4. Join the Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life Challenge.

Today must be “Opposite Day.” While yesterday I posted a joyful Mardi Gras celebration video, today I am sitting in bed with a glass of tea, a decongestant that hasn’t started working yet, watching the cold rain mixed with sleet come down. If we didn’t already have the day off for Mardi Gras, I would have called in sick or the superintendant would have cancelled school due to icy bridges. The bayou is steaming. The flowers are drooping and saying, “Hey, what gives?”

While I was driving to New Orleans on Sunday, the clouds were billowing, a warning of this day to come, I suppose. As I watched the clouds, I was struck by a metaphor of a bridal gown. Who knows why. I looked up some bridal gown terms and wrote a poem. Laura Shovan has been doing a poetry writing challenge at her blog, Author Amok. She posts Pantone colors every day, and we are invited to write a poem and submit it to her. This has been great practice for me. Her colors for today include Stormy Weather, how appropriate.

http://pixabay.com/en/clouds-sky-storm-rain-thunderstorm-56788/

Partly Cloudy

The bride was dressed in billowing waves,
blue-grey Chantilly lace layered
over a white-topped empire waist.
Her scalloped neckline accented by rays
of sunlight peering through a cathedral train.
Her attendants, those high Mississippi kites,
flew with utmost grace
announcing her imminent arrival.

–Margaret Simon

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Celebration Saturday is Here!

Posted in Celebration Saturday, Gifted Education, Gratitude, Poetry, tagged Author Amok, Azalea Estates, Laura Shovan, New Iberia on February 22, 2014| 4 Comments »

Each week I join in with other teacher-bloggers in celebrating our week. The celebration is hosted by Ruth Ayres at Discover. Play. Build. I hope I can stop sneezing long enough to write. Spring is coming and trees are blooming. My allergies tell me so. Today is a gorgeous day in South Louisiana. The sun is shining. The birds are singing. The air is crispy cool at 57 degrees. I celebrate starting my day with a walk. Minga is back to health, so we took our dogs Petey and Charlie to the park. Celebration was prevalent as old friends greeted her, happy to see her out and looking great.

I want to celebrate our 6th grade gifted students. We took them on a field trip this week as part of our WOW (Way out Wednesdays) enrichment program. First stop was Azalea Estates assisted living facility. There the students played games with and interviewed the residents. The room was full of energy. Everyone enjoyed themselves.

Brooklyn interviews Montez about her life for a Legacy project.

Next we went to downtown New Iberia to meet with various entities about our community service project plan. The students were met with respect by the head of the Chamber of Commerce as well as the mayor and city department heads. They did a wonderful job presenting their plans. I overheard one student say to another, “I like feeling special.” I celebrate their specialness and the opportunity to work with a great group of teachers and students.

I also want to take a moment to celebrate a fellow poet and cyber-friend, Laura Shovan. Laura is doing a birthday project at her site Author Amok. She is asking other poets to join in by writing to color prompts. This week I hit a hard spot. I wanted to write to the color Dubarry. I struggled after researching Madame duBarry. I tried a number of times to write something and the results were ~~crap~~, let’s say less than desirable. I told Laura of my trouble and she sent me a prompt through email. “Wear it: Imagine you are putting on an article of clothing in this color. What happens when you walk out your front door?” I was getting ready for bed when a poem with the color Orange Pepper came to me. I wrote it on a sticky note in the bathroom, then sent it to her immediately. She posted it the next day. My confidence is back. Thanks, Laura, for making me feel special.

I bought a tangerine purse–
orange pepper for my shoulder.
My daughter said I looked like I was carrying a satsuma.
The mailman asked if I had anything toxic or potentially hazardous.
But you said,
“Hey, I see sunshine on your shoulder.
Let’s walk together.”

by Margaret Simon

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Celebrating Love

Posted in Celebration Saturday, Poetry, tagged Betsy Snyder, haiku, love poetry, Valentine's Day on February 15, 2014| 6 Comments »

This was a week of feeling the love. and spreading love. Here’s how we did it.

1. Valentines for the elderly: I co-sponsor a leadership group at my base school, Paw Pride. These students decided last week that they wanted to make Valentines for the elderly, so we had two recess crafting sessions, created original Valentines, and delivered them after school on Thursday to a local subsidized housing facility for elderly. The students who came were filled with love and joy as they talked with the residents. A few of them expressed to me how surprised they were at the fun they had. They want to go back at Easter.

Emily’s haiku to the moon

2. Writing Love Haiku: On Friday, I decided to forego a math lesson with my youngest group of students and teach them about haiku. (I guess you could argue that counting syllables is math.) I read to them Betsy Snyder’s precious book, I Haiku You. This was their first experience with haiku. In the 10 minute writing time, a few of them wrote up to 4 haiku poems. Then they illustrated them. The feeling of pride and joy in their writing was heartwarming.

3. Love Poetry Night: Not a huge crowd, less than 20, listened to love poetry Friday night. I read my own poem and a Jane Hirschfeld poem, For What Binds Us, and choked up at the end. “how the black cord makes of them a single fabric/ that nothing can tear or mend.”
Jim recited Rumi. Phanat sang us a French love song. Clare and Bonny both made us tear up with their touching poems. Love is just like that sometimes, touches the heart.

I hope you were touched by some love this week. Join the celebration over at Ruth’s blog, Discover.Play.Build.

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