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Poetry Friday: Back in the Classroom

Posted in Gifted Education, Poetry Friday, This Photo Wants to be a Poem, tagged Ethical ELA, moonflower, student poems, volleyball on September 22, 2023| 17 Comments »

Poetry Friday is hosted by Carol at Beyond Literacy Link

I’ve had a wonderful week getting back into the classroom. I have some new students as well as the ones I taught last year. I teach gifted ELA pull out for two elementary schools. The hardest part of the job is packing up the cart and moving to the next school. Once I am there, though, all is right with the world. I am meant to be a teacher!

On Wednesday I led my kids through “This Photo Wants to be a Poem.” We use Fanschool and I place the same photo from my blog post to Fanschool. The kids write their own poems in the comment section. Two of my students who signed into gifted this week had never written a poem before. I find joy in the process. I think I spread that passion to them. Their responses were amazing.

This week was Ethical ELA’s Open Write. I wrote about one of my students in response to Barb’s prompt here. A comment from Kim Johnson gave me an idea for the ending metaphor. This is a wonderful community of teacher-writers. Join us in October, 21st-25th.

Volleyball Team

Last year in fourth grade
she would skip recess
awkwardly reading in a corner
of my classroom.

Fifth grade offered a volleyball team.
She arrived with a brightly colored volleyball,
tossed it with confidence,
leaning on it while writing.

“I’m on the volleyball team this year.”
We talked about the serve I could never master.
She showed me how it’s done now–
from the palm-up wrist rather than the thumb.

A flower blooming
through a crack in the concrete,
hoping to find its way
to shine on the court.
Margaret Simon, draft

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Poetry Friday: Breath for Flesh

Posted in Poetry Friday, Writing, tagged #healingtime, #poemsofpresence, Ching-In Chin, Poets.org on September 15, 2023| 19 Comments »

Rose has the round-up at Imagine the Possibilities

This week I have felt nearer to normal. I’ve been thinking about teaching and preparing lessons for my return on Monday. I’m pushing away concerns that I have no control over. Yesterday I invited a neighbor, a retired teacher, to cut and paste magazine words onto Jenga blocks, an idea that originated with Paul Hanks and used by Kim Johnson. (See this post.)

I get a lot of poems in my inbox. Some days it’s too overwhelming to read them all. Some days I find inspiration in a line or a form or an idea. This week I found a first line from Ching-In Chen’s poem Breath for Metal.

Breath for Flesh

This a story
I’ve kept
inside my soft
body. I’ve discovered

breath dissolves
fever–practiced pulling
in, hold, hold,
hold–
sigh.

I am being gentle with her,
speaking softly
through tears
like a light rain in fall.

Release
is real.
Margaret Simon, draft

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Poetry Friday: Erasure

Posted in Poetry, Poetry Friday, Writing, tagged Bianca Stone, erasure poetry, The New Yorker on September 8, 2023| 18 Comments »

Creative endeavors are returning to me. It feels good and right. I recently read the poems in The New Yorker of August 28, 2023. The poem What’s Poetry Like? by Bianca Stone was popping out to me as a perfect erasure poem. I enjoy whittling down to essential words. I found another poem here with a slightly different meaning than hers. I hope she is the type of poet who knows the highest form of flattery is imitation.

Poetry

Poets play love
essential moment, shared
written

resuscitate wildlife
disappearing ourselves

Poetry finds deficient
words, immortal
hunt

you’re trying to get back
bittersweet tongue,
all the emoting,
all the surrender

reckless
insight, hidden
wisdom slips into truth

the form itself
words that sing yet-

unspoken things wafting
waiting to be opened.
Margaret Simon, erasure poem from What’s Poetry Like? by Bianca Stone
The New Yorker, August 28, 2023

The Poetry Friday round-up today is with Amy Ludwig VanDerwater at The Poem Farm.

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Poetry Friday: Enjambed Life

Posted in Gratitude, Poetry, Poetry Friday, tagged #poemsofpresence, Bayou Teche, enjambment, healing, Inklings challenge, Jack Bedell on September 1, 2023| 42 Comments »

Poetry Friday is hosted today by Ramona at Pleasures from the Page.

Today is the first day of September and it comes with a full Blue Moon and slightly cooler temperatures pointing the way to fall. Ah, me! I breathe in deeply and sigh.

August has been a dark month for me, and I am just beginning to emerge from the cocoon of illness. When I asked the Inklings to study and use the tool of enjambment in a poem, I had no idea how my whole life would be enjambed. My hysterectomy in June had the worst possible complication, an opened and infected incision. I had a second surgery on Friday, August 18th. I was in the hospital for 5 days and in bed at home for 10 days following. As I begin to feel better and the cloud is lifting, I am cautiously optimistic that I am healing.

For the enjambment challenge, I offered my friends a model poem from former Louisiana poet laureate Jack Bedell.

Ghost Forest
—Manchac, after Frank Relle’s photograph, “Alhambra”

1.

Backlit by city and refinery’s glow
these cypress bones shimmer

on the still lake’s surface.
It’s easy to see a storm’s

coming with the sky rolling
gray overhead and the water

glass-calm. Even easier to know
these trees have weathered

some rough winds, their branches
here and there, pointing this

a-way and that at what
we’ve done to this place.

Read the rest here.
Jack Bedell

One early morning this week, I sat outside (at the urging of a close friend) and watched the bayou. This small draft of a poem came to me. I offer it here because it’s the only thing I have and doing this makes me feel normal again. Thanks to all of you who have expressed concern and sent cards and messages.

Is it
the play of light
on the surface
or air bubbles moving
over glass-calm

water I watch
still, quiet bayou
breathe, like me,
slow and deliberate
taking in life-
giving oxygen.

We are trying to survive,
bayou and I,
trying to make this day
meaningful
all the while knowing
breath is all
that matters.
Margaret Simon, draft

To see how other Inklings used enjambment, check out their posts.

Heidi Mordhorst @ My Juicy Little Universe
Linda Mitchell @ A Word Edgewise
Catherine Flynn @ Reading to the Core
Mary Lee Hahn @ A(nother) Year of Reading
Molly Hogan @ Nix the Comfort Zone

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Poetry Friday: #TheSealeyChallenge and Fertile Valleys

Posted in Poetry Friday, Writing, tagged #thesealychallenge, John Warner Smith, Linda Sue Park on August 11, 2023| 16 Comments »

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

I’m not sure where I first heard of The Sealey Challenge, but I found this information when I Googled it. The Sealey Challenge is a public challenge to read one poetry book each day in August. I decided to give it a shot this year. I received some good advice a while ago that if you want to write poetry you should read poetry. That sounds obvious, but taking on a challenge that pushes me to do what I should do is helpful.
My current list is as follows:

Mary Oliver: A Thousand Mornings (I’ve read this one before and it’s a comfort read.)
Pádraig Ó Tuama: Poetry Unbound (Reading a chapter a night)
Jim Kacian: Long After (This is a visual haiku masterpiece!)
Spirits of the Gods by John Warner Smith, Illustrated by Dennis Paul Williams
Call Us What We Carry by Amanda Gorman (I borrowed a line and wrote an anniversary poem here)
Tap Dancing on the Roof (Sijo Poems) by Linda Sue Park

Wish
For someone to read a poem
again, and again, and then,

having lifted it from the page
to brain–the easy part–

cradle it on the longer trek
from brain all the way to heart.
Linda Sue Park, from Tap Dancing on the Roof

What is Goodbye? by Nikki Grimes, Illustrated by Raul Colon (Novel-in-verse told by two siblings whose older brother died)
The Watcher by Nikki Grimes, Illustrated by Bryan Collier (A book of brilliantly written golden shovel poems using the lines of Psalm 121 while telling the story of two students who learn to overcome their rivalry.)

I made a trip to our public library and found few live poets there. The children’s section was better. I have an idea to set up a meeting with the head librarian to state a case for live poets. They should at least have the books from our state poets laureate as well as the national ones. I have a mission to change that!

I recently visited the newly renovated Roy House on the campus of ULL. The Center for Louisiana Studies has done a beautiful job of this old house, but the best part is the book store. The grand opening is next week on August 16th. I got a preview when I met with the editor and publisher to discuss an upcoming book. (Stay tuned for that news.) I bought John Warner Smith’s book of poetry written to Dennis Paul Williams’ artwork. John Warner Smith is the new director at The Shadows on the Teche in New Iberia. He was poet laureate of Louisiana from 2019-2021.

Have you ever read a poem that just grabbed you in the gut? That you had to read again and again, not to understand, but to absorb it into your soul (like Linda Sue explains in her poem Wish above)? This poem Survivor by John Warner Smith did that for me.

Reading poetry is watering the fertile valleys inspiring me to be the best poet I can be, not just for me, but for an audience who needs poetry to live a richer and more compassionate life.

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Poetry Friday: When in July

Posted in Poetry Friday, Writing, tagged Inklings challenge, Nature poems, Robin Wall Kimmerer on August 4, 2023| 22 Comments »

Mary Lee has the round-up and we Inklings are posting Catherine’s challenge.

Robin Wall Kimmerer teaches us that “It’s a sign of respect and connection to learn the name of someone else, a sign of disrespect to ignore it…Learning the names of plants and animals is a powerful act of support for them. When we learn their names and their gifts, it opens the door to reciprocity.” Look closely at the flowers, birds, trees, or other natural features in your neighborhood (or if you’re traveling, a new-to-you species) and write a poem about your chosen species. Free choice of format.

Catherine’s challenge for August

I wrote a poem in July. One of those poems that comes out while walking. As I’m sure you’ve heard, Louisiana is experiencing our hottest summer in history. Who knew this was going to happen? Duh, everybody. I just hope the meteorologist who said the extreme heat is keeping the hurricanes away is right, but it’s probably not. The Gulf will heat up and get angry soon enough.

For now I am listening to endless cicadas during the day and tree frogs through the night. And because we haven’t had rain, I’m watering, watering, watering. The good news is sunflowers are blooming in my butterfly garden.

When in July

When in July, the cicadas buzz all day,
when tree frogs near the bayou
peep through the night,
when crepe myrtles brighten sky
with pink and pink and pink,
when I walk alone
and visit the old oak tree leaning toward
the ground inviting me to join her
in homage
to this unceasing humid heat
that calls like the cicadas
to our spirits to play
like children play
running through sprinklers,
spreading arms wide
like dragonfly wings,
then July leaves us
with sunflower-smiles.
Margaret Simon, draft

Photo by Andre Furtado on Pexels.com

Other Inklings’ responses to this challenge can be found below:

Mary Lee at A(nother) Year of Reading

Catherine at Reading to the Core

Linda at A Word Edgewise

Heidi at My Juicy Little Universe

Molly at Nix the Comfort Zone

August is for the Sealy Challenge: reading a poetry book each day. Mary Lee shared her list for the first few days. Here’s mine:
Day 1: Mary Oliver: A Thousand Mornings (I’ve read this one before and it’s a comfort read.)
Day 2: Pádraig Ó Tuama: Poetry Unbound (Reading a chapter a night)
Day 3: Jim Kacian: Long After (This is a visual haiku masterpiece!)

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Poetry Friday: Earthworm

Posted in Poetry Friday, tagged #Poetrypals, monotetra, On Being Poetry Unbound, Worm poem on July 28, 2023| 8 Comments »

The round up today is with my friend and fellow poet, Jan at Bookseed Studio.

I am a firm believer that reading poetry begets more poetry. See Billy Collins’ poem The Trouble with Poetry. He understands the problem. Last night I was reading Pádraig Ó Tuama’s book of essays about poetry, Poetry Unbound. I had in the back of my mind the Poetry Sisters’ challenge for this month, a monotetra form about transformation. Mary Lee, a fellow Inkling, presented us with this challenge. Today she shares a monotetra about the pools in her life.

Yesterday I was surprised by 10 monarch caterpillars on some volunteer milkweed near my AC unit. They’ve nearly eaten it all!

At first when I read the essay about the poem Worm by Gail McConnell, I was not inclined to enjoy it. I mean, an earthworm as the topic of a poem? But of course as he does every time, Padraig pulled me in and helped me see it for more than its surface appearance. I found myself swimming in his words and then writing a monotetra right there in my bed into my Notes app. This is only the second draft, but I’m putting it out there for you all to dig into (pun intended).

This poem’s worthless worm making
air holes with its muscle shaking
burying this compost wasting
ground is quaking. Ground is quaking.

I dig in with sharp fingernails.
Worm remembers for whom it hails.
Give me breath to survive this frail
time to heal. Time to heal.
Margaret Simon, draft

To see more monotetra poems, visit…

Liz @ Liz Garton Scanlon
Tricia @ The Miss Rumphius Effect
Tanita @ {fiction, instead of lies}
Sara @ Read Write Believe
Laura @ Laura Purdie Salas
Mary Lee @ A(nother) Year of Reading
Michelle Kogan @ MoreArt4All

If you missed it this week, visit This Photo Wants to be a Poem to see a picture of my youngest, rosiest, 7 month old grandchild, June.

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Poetry Friday: Ode to Molly’s Strawberry Jam

Posted in Gratitude, Poetry Friday, Writing, tagged Molly Hogan, Neruda, ode, strawberry jam on July 20, 2023| 27 Comments »

Poetry Friday Round up is Here!
Scroll down to add your link.

One of the pleasures of summer is fruit in abundance. My fridge is full of strawberries, blueberries, apples, watermelon, and more. Fruit is how I satisfy my sweet tooth.

I had surgery three weeks ago. My friend and fellow Inkling Molly Hogan sent me some strawberry jam with strawberries she picked herself on a farm in Maine. I have been so touched by how wide my circle of friends reaches.

I subscribe to a lot of poetry emails. The Poetry Foundation featured an ode by infamous Pablo Neruda praising tuna, Ode to a Large Tuna in the Market. I noted “write an ode about food.” Then I received News from the Fishbowl newsletter and Poets & Writers The Time is Now. Both of these prompts came from Neruda’s tuna poem. The universe was telling me to write an ode.

Looking at this poem again, I want to adjust that last line. Maybe delete it altogether. My thought was to have color in my face, but it could be associated with blood (yuck!). My grandson Leo loves to talk about bleeding. He wanted to see my belly button scar. Maybe he will grow up to be a surgeon.

But I digress. Friends, please put your links in the Inlinz below. Thanks.

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Poetry Friday: Sudoku Poem

Posted in Poetry Friday, tagged garden poem, Inklings challenge, sudoku poem on July 7, 2023| 14 Comments »

Poetry Friday is being gathered by Marcie Flinchum Atkins.

For years I tried sudoku and failed over and over. I left a whole puzzle book halfway completed. As the puzzles advanced in difficulty, I gave up. I find comfort in words. I find confusion in numbers. It’s just how my brain works. So when Heidi challenged the Inklings to write a Sudoku poem, I put it off. Heidi was inspired by Mary Lee who was inspired by a Rattle poem.

My inspiration came from these things in my life:

My daughter in New Orleans wants to grow things. She planted wildflowers and she was so proud of how they bloomed, but now the heat is killing them.
Molly Hogan, an Inkling and friend, sent me some strawberry jam. She posted about strawberry picking on her Slice of Life post this week.
My husband and I went dancing. We love dancing. I wore a flowing colorful dress.

How do you fit all of those experiences of delight into one grid? I tried. Here is my experiment. I think it’s important to remember this is a puzzle, so some of the lines will puzzle the reader. I think that’s okay. Let me know if you try out this form.

The Garden Gate: A Sudoku Poem

Check out the other Inklings poems:

Linda Mitchell
Molly Hogan
Heidi Mordhorst
MaryLee Hahn
Catherine Flynn

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Poetry Friday: Clunker Exchange

Posted in Poetry Friday, Writing, tagged clunker line, Eudora Welty, Linda Mitchell on June 23, 2023| 15 Comments »

Poetry Friday is being hosted by Linda Mitchell. She is offering a clunker line exchange. Such a fun idea for poets.

Last weekend, two of my daughters and I went to an adorable antique shop in Ridgeland, MS called Antique Aly. We wondered aloud if Aly was the owner’s name and sure enough, when we walked in, we met a cute little southern girl named Aly. Aly helped me make a difficult decision. The first thing I spotted was a Eudora Welty book that was bound in leather and signed. It was locked in a glass cabinet, so I asked her about it. She opened the cabinet while I told her how I met Eudora Welty when I was in high school. I attended a reading and spoke to her afterwards because I was doing a paper about her. I remember her kindness and willingness to talk to a shy teenage admirer.

Aly wasn’t all that impressed, but she was willing to text the seller to see if he would come down on the price of the book. I paid the high price anyway because it was a hard day, and I wanted it. Of course being a woman of my generation, I immediately felt guilty about spending that much money on a single book.

This week I talked with a friend about it. She understood retail therapy. She said, “You deserve to do something good for yourself, something that has a special meaning to you. Go home and give the book a kiss.”

I used a clunker from Linda: “Catch a falling word, hold onto it.” And wrote this little poem:

I Bought a Signed Eudora Welty Book at an Antique Store

Catch a falling
Word, hold onto it,
Love it,
Covet,
Share some tea with it.
Understand the word
is not yours to own forever,
so kiss it
with lipstick on
and set it free.
Margaret Simon, draft

I am still fundraising for the Alzheimer’s Association in honor of my mother’s 87th birthday. If this touches your heart, consider a donation. I’m making beaded bracelets for a donation of $50 or more. Here is a link to my donor’s page: http://act.alz.org/goto/honordotgibson

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