Poetry | Reflections on the Teche

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15 Lines Talking to Me Today

Posted in Poetry, Slice of Life, tagged craft, Poets and Writers on March 17, 2013| 10 Comments »

Slice of Life Challenge Day 17

The Poets and Writers prompt for poetry this week was this: “There are 15 lines presenting themselves to you today. Use them to craft a poem.”

So I grabbed some lines while I checked email, blogs, and Facebook. This poem reflects a weird collection of what I read.

15 Lines Talking to Me Today

Words are swimming in my head like little nuggets of time;
words of wisdom, words of observation, words of passers by.
I trust this wisdom is full of magic.
The simple things are the most extraordinary
if only we could see them.
Make a choice with one hand on your heart.
Look for sheep and the shepherd will care for you.
When a pigeon is nesting in the eaves, open the window.
The chicken is innocent though the pile of feathers is telling.
We can make our lives easier if we just listen.

Take these words and make them inchworms,
the caterpillars of geometer moths.
Let’s kench (laugh loudly) together.
You should know, no matter what else,
you are my sunshine.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day from my dog Charlie. We went to a dog walk in the park yesterday to support our local Humane Society. He’s all kerchiefed and ready to walk.

My schnoodle, Charlie, says “Happy St. Patrick’s Day!”

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Ways of Seeing

Posted in Poetry, Slice of Life, Teaching, tagged 10 ways poem, crystal, glass apple on March 14, 2013| 5 Comments »

Slice of Life Challenge Day 14

At the wordlab this weekend, our leader used a poetry prompt called “Object Lesson.” I wrote about it here. Today, I tried the prompt with my students. I collected objects from around the classroom. I was amazed at the range of things I had to choose from; a crystal, a sunflower frame, a glass apple paperweight to name a few. The instructions were to write 10 stanzas, three lines each, with each stanza acting as a small picture of your object from a different point of view.
Due to the comment challenge for classroom slices, you may have already read some of these. My class is blogging at kidblogs.

This was such a successful prompt I wanted to share it with you along with a few of the resulting poems.

Ten Ways to Look into a Glass Apple
by Kaylie (6th grade)

Formed in the hottest fires
cooled down in the Nile River
an Egyptian artifact.

Bubbles trapped inside of it
waiting to be belched
into the world.

A paperweight
slightly dusty, from 10 years
sitting on an old scholar’s shelf.

A glass snack
waiting
for a glass automaton.

Slightly nicked
on one side
by the paws of a curious cat.

A fortune teller
looking into the orb
full of voodoo magic.

A gift,
wrapped nicely
in pink tissue paper.

A game of hide-and-seek antique
started by a grandmother
ended by a toddler.

A secret
curled up and hiding
for you to decipher.

A writing prompt
held in a young girl’s hand
who just finished sharing her poem.

10 Ways of Looking at a Crystal
by Emily (2nd grade)

1. Shining
So
Brightly

2. Pointing
Up into
The sky

3. Sparkling
Like a star
At night

4. The prettiest
I’ve ever
Seen

5. Your beautiful
Pointed
Shape

6. So nice
And
Smooth

7.The Beautiful
Marks inside
Of you

8. When you’re
In Light you
Shine like the sun

9.You have
the perfect
Former glory

10.Clear as
Water white
As snow

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Azaleas Popping

Posted in Poetry, Slice of Life, tagged azaleas, haiku on March 12, 2013| 5 Comments »

Azaleas in my front yard

Sunday night it rained all night. And I slept poorly between the gutters clanking and my storm-scared dog barking. But when I drove home from school on Monday afteroon, the sun was shining, the breeze was blowing, and the azaleas were bright all over town. I think this calls for a spring haiku.

Azaleas popping
sun-drenched pinkness bounces on
green bushy balloons.

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Inner Faces

Posted in Poetry, Slice of Life, tagged butterfly, Cathy Mills, ekphrasis, poetry on March 11, 2013| 11 Comments »

Slice of Life Challenge Day 11

A few weeks ago I ran in to an old friend at an art show. She was showing a new body of work. We talked, and I told her of my love of writing ekphrastic poetry. On Saturday, she sent me by email a number of her paintings. Here is my experiment with the first.

Inner Faces by Cathy Mills

Inner Faces

If only I could see you in double,
inside and out,
transformed
like the wings of a butterfly
opening, welcoming,
letting me in.

If only you could know my desire
to be your only mother,
the one who loves you most,
maybe you would honor me
with your presence
and let me in.

If only our lives were connected
by a strong abdomen
we could share more than a name,
a recognition of two faces
mirrored and aware,
letting me in.

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Ten Ways of Looking at a Candle

Posted in Poetry, Slice of Life, tagged Acadiana Wordlab, candle, pysanky making on March 10, 2013| 12 Comments »

Slice of Life Challenge Day 10

The candle

At the Acadiana Wordlab yesterday, Kelly Clayton put ordinary objects on the table. Actually, some of the objects were quite weird, like the two orange plastic Neanderthal men. She called this prompt “Object Lesson.” I think she got it from Writing Alone and with Others by Pat Schneider. We had to select an object and write 10 stanzas of three lines each. It reminded me of Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird by Wallace Stevens. My photo above is not the greatest, but you can see some of the other objects in the background.

I. Candle on a string
once you were two
and dipped.

II. White wax
nondescript
unscented
waiting to be lit.

III. Standing in a circle
side by side
sisters pass you around,
an ancient ritual.

IV. Set in a wreath,
counting the days
until a Savior’s birth.

V. Darkness is not dark
unless the light
knows it.

VI. Melted and scripted
with a kistka* and a steady hand,
dying reveals patterns.

VII. I will tuck you away
in my purse
in case the lights go out.

VIII. Tasting with a lick,
smooth and waxy,
reminds me of waxed lips.

IX. Wedged in a bottle
adorned with drippings,
you light our Italian meal.

X. The slight wind
created by your flame
can lift a whole balloon.

Pysanky making

*After the wordlab, I attended Art Walk and met a Slavic woman who had a show of her Pysanky eggs. Her husband was demonstrating the process using a stylus called a kistka. I had to add that to my poem. Pysanky is the ancient Eastern European art of egg decorating. The name comes from the verb to write, as you use a stylus (called a kistka) to write with wax on the egg shell. The process is similar to batik.

Pysanky egg by Nicole Holcombe

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Moonlit Rondelet

Posted in Poetry, Slice of Life, tagged rondelet on March 6, 2013| 12 Comments »

Serendipity from the Slice of Life Challenge is learning about new poetry forms. At Birds and Trees of the Mind, Paul is trying different poetry forms. He posted a rondelet recently. Rondelet is a French poetry form derived from a word meaning small circle. The poem circles. The syllable pattern is 4A /8b /repeat line 1/8a/8b/8b/repeat line 1.

From Creative Commons

Into the night
Crescent moon rises up singing
into the night
reflections through the leaves alight
wind swept silences, chimes ringing
Tomcat prowls, his proud catch bringing
into the night.

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Dreams

Posted in Poetry, Slice of Life, tagged Acadiana Wordlab, dreams, Poetry prompts on March 5, 2013| 9 Comments »

Slice of Life Challenge Day 5

On Saturday, I attended the Acadiana Word Lab again. This was my third Saturday to attend. Each week is a new presenter, and each week, different people attend. I am meeting new people and learning to be braver with my writing. The point is to write a rough draft in response to the presenter’s prompts. We usually do 2-3 short writing periods. Then share…it’s all part of it. This weekend I felt intimidated by the confident writers I sat with. But when I read the following response, I heard someone whisper, “Excellent!” Wow! Just what I needed to hear that day. I’m not so sure this poem measures up to her exclamation, but I’ll take it anyway. The prompt was to write about a dream you never had.

The Dream I Never Had

I have never flown in my dreams.
I want to feel this free–
Oh, in the arms of Superman,
or on the magic carpet with Alladin,
on the wings of an eagle,
better yet–be the eagle–
soar, swoop,
slide across the clouds,
circle the moon.
Fly? Me? No!

I dream of children’s voices,
lost keys,
closed locks,
smothering.

My daughter once wrote a dream blog.
Her dreams were like wild fairy tales.
I want to dream like she dreams.

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Stained Glass

Posted in Poetry, Slice of Life, tagged Bayou Teche, Clare Martin, collaborative poem, nature poem on March 4, 2013| 5 Comments »

Every week I get an email from Poets & Writers called “The Time is Now.” You can sign up, too. They send out prompts for writing. A few weeks ago, the poetry prompt suggested collaborating by email or text on a poem with each person adding a line until the poem felt complete. I invited my new poet friend, Clare Martin, to participate with me. We composed it using Facebook messenger. We each revised to create our own poem. I am posting my version.

Stained Glass

Reflection of bare trees
stripe the still bayou.
See into the reflection.
Clouds become water.

Water holds a dark harm–
dangerous depth,
deceiving beauty.
The surface holds the whole sky.

A single tear
breaks the glass.
Slip within the sky.
See your self in the depths.

Slice of Life Challenge Day 4

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School’s Out Fib

Posted in Poetry, Slice of Life, tagged fibonacci poem on March 2, 2013| 10 Comments »

Teacher 1, Teacher 2

On Friday, many of the teachers arrived at school wearing their “Teacher 1” or “Teacher 2” shirt in honor of Dr. Seuss’s birthday on March 2nd. We soon figured out that we would not be having school that day. The plumbing was out. Who wants to have school with no plumbing? So after about 20 minutes, the buses returned, parents were called. My students were full of excitement. Before they could leave, though, I asked them to post their Slices for March 1. Together we wrote a Fibonacci poem about the day. Joy at Poetry for Kids Joy posted a Fib poem on her blog on Poetry Friday, so I borrowed the idea. The syllable pattern is 1/1/2/3/5/8/and back again 8/5/3/2/1/1. Read about Fibonacci series here

Fibonacci Spiral

School’s

out

today–

no water–

Dr. Suess would play.

Thing 1 and Thing 2 come out and

help fix this messy problem-o,

clean up and repair

broken pipes,

but we

don’t

want!

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Water Triolet

Posted in Poetry, Poetry Friday, Teaching, tagged Poetry prompts, teaching gifted, triolet, water quotes on February 21, 2013| 12 Comments »

Sheri is hosting the round up today at her site, Sheri Doyle

In our district (in Louisiana, we call them parishes), our gifted students are spread across the parish in a dozen schools. In order to bring together our 6th grade students the year before they go to middle school together, we designed an enrichment program. The 6 elementary gifted teachers meet with all the 6th graders for one day a month to work on a specific real world project. This year our theme has been water, and I lead them in a poetry exercise each month.

This month I got the idea of using the triolet form from fellow Poetry Friday blogger, Joy at Poetry for Kids Joy. Last week, she posted a few triolet poems she wrote using quotes about writing. So I searched for quotes about water. The students’ handout included the directions for writing a triolet and a list of quotes about water. I asked them to choose a quote and use it as the first line of the poem. The best part about this exercise was I wrote with the students, and we did 5 small group rotations, so I wrote 5 triolet poems. I will only post my two favorites here.

Snow Day from Linda at Teacher Dance.

Snow Day
Someday we’ll evaporate together,
But today we’ll play in the snow.
Someday we’ll ignore the weather,
But today we’ll slip and flow.
Like two birds of the same feather,
we’ll talk and laugh and glow.
Someday we’ll evaporate together,
But today we’ll play in the snow.

–Margaret Simon, all rights reserved

Clean
Be like water, float.
Let bubbles wash you like soap.
Dance on waves, forget the boat.
Be like water, float.
Find a bottle, read the note,
Wonder, dream, imagine, hope.
Be like water, float.
Let bubbles wash you like soap.

–Margaret Simon, all rights reserved

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