Poetry | Reflections on the Teche

Archive for the ‘Poetry’ Category

Essential Ingredients

Posted in Poetry, Poetry Friday, tagged found poem, Jane Hirshfield, poetry essentials on September 6, 2013| 8 Comments »

Poet Jane Hirshfield

Jane Hirshfield is one of my favorite poets. Such a gentle soul! I attended a reading years ago at the Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival, a blessing to be in her presence. I don’t remember what she read but how she read. Her voice was like the soft rocking of a grandmother. I wanted to stay in her voice and live there.

I spend too much time on Facebook, but it’s not what you may think. I skim over the pictures of my friends’ families and dinners and children and click on links from my professional learning communities. The other day The Academy of American Poets posted a link to this Jane Hirshfield article, 5 Poetic Essentials for the Home Cook.

I spent some time with her article to absorb the essence of it. Here I have created a found poem.

Simple obedience isn’t possible.
Right now you are making something
of this very moment. Imagination
rises like wild yeasts. Why not invite it?
What else is needed? Lemon zest of curiosity, yes!
Taste the boldness. Experiment because failure is inevitable.
Classic companions-oil and water-make good company.
We sustain one another. The pause here is essential.
However brief or silent, it changes the day
seasoning with powerful gratitude.

–Found by Margaret Simon, all rights reserved

Poetry Friday is hosted today by Laura Shovan at Author Amok

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August Chalk-a-bration

Posted in Poetry, Teaching, tagged chalk poetry, poetry, students writing on August 30, 2013| 7 Comments »

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

My students welcomed Friday by chalking up some poetry. The principal stopped by and said, “How fun!” Then she asked if we would do it again for grandparents’ day. A great way to welcome the long weekend. Sorry my pictures aren’t clearer. Any advice on taking pictures of chalk art?

A colorful rainbow,
pretty spiral like it’s spinning,
sugar filled gummie land,
a wonderful site to see.
by Tyler

Hip, hip hooray!
Today is Friday.
Happy in my heart
the weekend’s about to start.
Margaret Simon

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Kaleidoscope Dreams

Posted in Poetry, Poetry Friday, tagged ekphrasis, tineye labs on August 29, 2013| 9 Comments »

Background & Ball, a photo by Song_sing on Flickr.

Kaleidoscope Dreams

Look into your beachball crystal ball.
Hold the top with Mr. Pointer
and spin!

Colors swirl, fractals curl.
Spirals to a world
within.
–Margaret Simon, all rights reserved

I got an invitation to play on a website called TinEye Labs from my cyber-friend Linda Baie. This is a fun site to play on. You can select up to 5 colors and get a collage of 35 photos. For my poem above, I selected 3 colors and then chose this photo to write about.

I tried this in my classroom. The bad news: Our school network blocked the site. The good news: I have an iPhone. Bad news: Only one student can use it at a time. Good news: The activity was exciting and inspired fun writing. Since I only teach small groups of students, I was able to meet with each student separately and allow them to play. I sent the photos by email to my school account and printed them. The students glued the picture into their journals and wrote.

One student chose a psychedelic multicolored head to write about. Another student made the comment, “That is what a snake sees, not your face, but the colors of your temperature.” I’m not sure how true his statement is; Gifted kids often tell me things I don’t already know, while they also say completely untrue things with confidence. Anyway, that statement inspired this hilarious poem from Matthew. The photo is here.

Snake eyes…literally!

This is what a snake sees,isn’t it strange?

This is what he sees when he’s in your range.

This is all the heat that is in your body,

Kinda makes everyone a real big hottie!

Poetry Friday is hosted today by Tara at A Teaching Life.

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Chalking Poetic

Posted in Poetry, Teaching, tagged chalkabration, Fancy Nancy Poet Extraordinaire on July 31, 2013| 2 Comments »

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

It’s July 31st, the last day of July and time for a Chalkabration. That means writing poetry in chalk, or chalketry. I knew it was coming up, so instead of unpacking boxes, arranging shelves, or covering a bulletin board as I have been doing for days to get ready for back-to-school, I crossed the hall and borrowed three children from a colleague’s classroom. Her children are usually happy to comply, but amazingly, I was able to get all three of them to write a poem (or two).

The 5-year old, Jacob, is entering kindergarten this year. He is very bright and can read already, but he didn’t know what a poem was. So I pulled out “Fancy Nancy Poet Extraordinaire.” This is a great book for teaching about poetry with lots of fancy words. Funny me, I would stop and explain the meaning of a word only to find Nancy would explain it, too, and often better than I did. She even introduced the word ode.

On finishing the book, I pulled out some old loose leaf paper and managed to locate pencils among the mess of supplies, and we set about writing poems. I did what I always do and wrote with them. Kaylie (entering 7th grade) and I decided to write about the sun. Emily (3rd grade) wrote an acrostic with the word poem. She was trying to help Jacob write an acrostic, too, but he got frustrated and moved to Kaylie for help. She began brainstorming words with him. (I have taught her well!)

Then I said, “Jacob, what do you want to write about?”
He replied, “Teenage Ninja Turtles.”
“Ok, what do you like about turtles?”
“Turtles’ shells are shiny.”
“Great first line!”
“I like the colors!”
“Write that for your second line.”
He wrote, “I COLORS”
“Great job!”
“Let’s think, what words rhyme with shiny?”
Jacob liked the word tiny.
The last line became “They’re tiny.”

While Kaylie and I were helping Jacob write his poem, Emily was writing. She wrote another poem. This one about rainbows. I love waving the magic wand of poetry over children. The world is a better place and certainly more fun! Thanks, Erica, for loaning me your delightful children for this summer Chalkabration.

Turtles’ shells are shiny.
I like the colors.
They’re tiny.

Rainbows
When I see a rainbow,
they make me feel happy.
When the sun goes out,
I get sad. But I’ll see another one
again another day.

Haiku to the Sun
morning sun columns
shafts of light streaming through the clouds
yellow glitter shines

Sunspots
buzz like flies
behind my eyes
yellow polka dots.

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Sometimes

Posted in Poetry, Poetry Friday, Teachers Write, tagged favorite place, Teachers Write, writing prompt on July 26, 2013| 10 Comments »

I have been participating in the Teachers Write virtual writing camp at Kate Messner’s blog. The first few weeks I was very good about doing all the exercises. One of the early quick writes asked us to think about a special place. The details of the prompt can be found here.

I visited my parents this summer and enjoyed daily views of their lake. Usually a bird was in the view. The sunset is always beautiful and different. So this became my special place for my response poem.

The Lake
Sometimes near the lake
cardinals flirt,
flickers of red
darting, clicking.
You’ll hear honks of Canada geese,
a gaggle on the shore pecking grass.
There is the great white egret
sailing above the water
reflecting a shimmer of sparkling sun-kiss.
Sometimes, the tinkle of the wind chime
whispers softly, “I love you.”
–Margaret Simon, all rights reserved

Kate’s model poem was her own Sometimes on a Mountain in April. Hers is a poem in photos, very nice. Hop on over there now.

Thanks, Matt Forrest, for taking on the Poetry Friday Roundup today. Go on over to find more rich poetry links.

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Summer Sunflower

Posted in Poetry, Poetry Friday, tagged fibonacci poem, sunflower on July 19, 2013| 7 Comments »

I bought a macro lenses for my iPhone. My sunflowers bloomed. So I took a close-up picture of this amazing gift of nature.

Using a poetry prompt from Poets and Writers, The Time is Now. “Choose an inch of space anywhere around you…Write about that inch. Take a step back. Focus the scope of your poetry. Writing about a single drop of rain can tell us the most about the sky above,” I set out to write a poem about this shining inch in my flower bed.

I also did some research on Wikipedia and found out that the design of the inflorescence (flower head) is a swirl. The swirl design can be mathematically described using the Fibonacci series. With my students last year, I wrote Fib poems using the syllable count of 1,1,2,3,5,8 then turned it around 8,5,3,2,1,1. So what is more appropriate than writing a Fib about the sunflower?

I’ve posted both versions of my poem here. The first is free verse while the second is a Fibonacci poem.

Summer Sunflower

Alive
in yellow exuberance,
inflorescent
spirals off a golden angle—
a mathematician’s playground
in patterned perfection.
I study your face
with squinty eyes,
let time elapse
loving our mother’s glory.
–Margaret Simon

(Fibonacci poem)
I
am
alive
in yellow
enthusiastic
spirals off a golden angle
patterned perfection
study of
mother’s
love.
— Margaret Simon

Poetry Friday is hosted today by Jone at Check it Out.

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Introduce Play into your Art

Posted in Poetry, Poetry Friday, tagged found poetry, International Artist, poem swap on July 12, 2013| 19 Comments »

Last week Tabatha sent me the name of my 3rd Poem Swap for this summer. I was so excited to see Linda Baie‘s name. Linda is a presence in the kidlitosphere. She won the prize (a copy of my book Blessen) for the biggest commenter on my blog during the March Slice of Life Challenge with the Two Writing Teachers. I have embraced Linda as a cyber-friend with hopes to one day meet her in person. She is so kind and supportive, I wanted to do something special for her.

My father had given me back issues of art magazines to use in my classroom, so I pulled one out for inspiration. I found a poem in the words of the magazine. Then I decided to make a collage of pictures. That didn’t work out so well. While my result was something and may have been creative, it didn’t please me. It wasn’t good enough for Linda, so I made another one. This one pleased me. The found poem came from The International Artist. The images came from American Artist.

Introduce Play into your Art
a found poem from the International Artist
Imagine the surface
alive with light
not pure white—a combination
of source and object.

Look out the window.
See a passenger train
in late afternoon,
a spider web
on a dewy morning,
the cornfield
below the horizon,
tree branches
on a rainy night.

If you follow the light,
you will find the sun.
Light is like salt—
a little is all you need.

–Margaret Simon

Poetry Friday is hosted today by Michelle at Today’s Little Ditty.

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Dear Art Man

Posted in Poetry, Slice of Life, tagged A&E Gallery, New Iberia, Paul Schexnayder on July 2, 2013| 8 Comments »

Join the Tuesday Slice of Life

Motel Beau Sejour by Paul Schexnayder

On Friday, I joined a group of teachers from the Acadiana Writing Project on a writing marathon. I took two other teachers with me to show them my friend and colleague Paul Schexnayder’s gallery. I sat next to the above painting and wrote him a letter. Paul was dubbed “Art Man” some years ago when he taught at the school my children attended. He has become the Art Man of New Iberia promoting local artists in an old historical building known as A&E Gallery after the original owner, August Erath.

Serendipitously, Paul posted his before and after paintings on Facebook and gave me permission to post them here. This painting is one of his Hometown Series. Residents remember this motel that stood at the western edge of town in the 1960’s and 70’s.

Click here to visit Paul’s website.

Dear Art Man,
I’m here in your gallery today. Like Goldilocks,
I sit in your chair. You know the one:
an old metal stool with the white vinyl seat
splattered with paint, just-right
for reaching the easel. Your apron is draped
over the back. I try it on, pretend
to be you.

Here is an aerial photograph of your subject.
Did you use it to lay out your design?
Are you finished yet? I’m not sure.
Are you?

The sky is a deep dark blue stretching to near white
in the far right hand corner. The sun, perhaps, is rising.
A line of trees defines the horizon. In the foreground,
a sign:

Motel,
Free TV,
Beau Sejour,
Swimming Pool, Restaurant

I recognize the Oldsmobile Vista Cruiser
I had as a child, fake wood on the side.
Does this one have a sunroof or an AM/FM radio
like ours?

I want to go jump into the motel pool
alluring me with a curvy white slide.
I see your foam plate palettes still full of paint.
Do I dare dip a brush in?
Make my mark on your developing masterpiece?
I can hop into the station wagon,
ride to Motel Beau Sejour—
uninvited.

–Margaret Simon, all rights reserved

Motel Beau Sejour finished by Paul Schexnayder.

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Chalk-u

Posted in Poetry, Teaching, tagged chalkabration, haiku, student work on June 30, 2013| 5 Comments »

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

Betsy, a kindergarten teacher and fellow blogger, is hosting a round up of chalketry, poetry in chalk, at her monthly Chalkabration. On the last day of Write your Way youth writing camp a few weeks ago, we wrote haiku in chalk or chalku for the parents to read as they walked to the classroom for Author’s Chair. Here’s a sampling.

Flowers in a bush
Fresh cut grass under my feet
What a pleasant smell!
by Kaylie

Roses are in bloom
Bees buzz around the garden
All is peaceful
–Anna

Shadows dapple, splayed
beneath the crooked oak’s arms
Swaying though untouched
–Collin

Trees blow in the wind
Growing and growing until
They all pass away
–Jered

Shadows move slow
and birds tweet quiet
I write in the shade.
Kylon

A shady oak tree.
The perfect place on a hot day
A cool breeze blowing its leaves
By Lily

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Summer on New Castle Lake

Posted in Poetry, Slice of Life, tagged family, Mississippi, Travel on June 25, 2013| 8 Comments »

Join the Tuesday Slice of Life

I have had a wonderful, peaceful week with my parents in Madison, MS. on New Castle Lake. They look out at the lake every day. There is something so calming about watching water. Each day, they are visited by a great blue heron, a gaggle of Canada geese, and a family of mallards. Each evening, the sun sets over the horizon making a new painting in the sky.

Each day we embarked on an outing. The first fell on my mother’s birthday. We attended her monthly book club meeting that took place in a Circa 1908 Revival mansion The Fairview Inn B&B and restaurant. I loved being surrounded by smart southern women discussing books and life! They put a candle in Mom’s crème brûlée.

Happy Birthday, Dot!

The next day the three of us went to the Mississippi Museum of Art for lunch and a viewing of the Old Masters to Monet. We also enjoyed the permanent collection and the quilt competition.

On Thursday, we went to the Mississippi Craftsmen Center on the Natchez Trace. So many talented artists and craftsmen in Mississippi!

The rest of the week included hearing my brother play with two other musicians at a fine restaurant, a bookstore visit with my dad, and seeing my sister-in-law in Steel Magnolias. She played the mother, M’Lynn and had me sobbing by the end.

My favorite part was just being there, having time to read, write, and visit with my family. One evening we sat out on the screened-in porch. I read aloud poems by Natasha Trethewey (who is originally from Mississippi) while Mom tracked the stars on her iPad. I wrote the following poem:

Tonight,
instead of TV,
we stargaze;
chart the evening sky on the iPad app.

Mom announces Venus
above the horizon
glimmering like an orange diamond,

not unlike the firefly
with its lonely, silent flashes.

When we stop talking,
frogs moan, crying
like spoiled children resisting bedtime:

Let me stay a little longer,
to find more stars,
to catch more stories,
to be more awake!

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