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Poetry Friday: Enough is…

Posted in Books, Poetry Friday, Writing, tagged Enough Is, Jessica Whipple, NPM 2023, picture books, zeno on April 21, 2023| 7 Comments »

Poetry Friday is hosted today by Karen Edmisten

I was introduced to Jessica Whipple by my friend Irene Latham. What a delight to read her new picture book “Enough is” illustrated by Nicole Wong. Enough was my One Little Word for 2022. When I need to remind myself that I am enough and I have enough, I wear the bracelet that bears the word. Jessica took this idea and stretched it into love in a picture book. “Somewhere between a little and a lot, there is Enough.”

The child character is learning about enough. “Enough isn’t a number,” so she wonders, what is enough? She comes to the profound conclusion that when you have enough, it’s easy to share.

I asked Jessica to answer some questions about her author’s journey to publication. Her book Enough Is published this week.

How would you describe your journey as a writer?

My journey as a writer began as an experiment! I’m a “try it and see what happens” kind of person. In short, I had an idea (out of which came my first book, ENOUGH IS…), and then the question “I wonder if I can write a picture book?” And soon after, “What does it take to publish a picture book?” I was a young-ish mom, so picture books were starting to fill my consciousness! And I have a degree in communications, and so writing has been part of my make-up for some time. Four, maybe five years later, here I am and I never expected to answer my first two questions in such a delightfully surprising and satisfying way.

How does writing poetry help when writing a picture book? How are they different?

There are similarities in form between a free verse poem and a picture book, and of course a rhyming PB and a rhyming poem. There tend to be short lines in both forms, economical language, a set “flow,” lyricism, introspection, toying with reader expectations…I could go on! In fact, I am working on a virtual or in-person presentation for poetry-loving highschoolers about this topic. Shameless plug: I would love to speak to your student literary magazine or English class!

Is Enough a concept you feel young children have a hard time with? What is your experience with this concept?

Very much, yes! And my own experience is that I have a hard time with it as an adult, even! As a child, I remember the sadness that came after, say, a back-to-school shopping trip and how conflicted I was with the realization it was all just “stuff,” yet somehow I wanted more of it. And now, without limits, I’ll simply keep eating chocolate chips out of the bag if I don’t remind myself that I wrote a book about this very thing! “Enough” is hard because it’s uncomfortable. We want…things, friends, happiness, you name it…so the more we help each other learn contentment, the easier it is to feel comfortable with having enough.

What part of the publishing journey is your favorite? Your least favorite?

Oh man I love querying! And now that I have an agent, Emily Keyes of Keyes Agency, I don’t get to do that anymore! I love the process of doing the same thing over and over again trying for a good result. But I suppose I can keep doing that as I work to promote my books… In terms of my least favorite part of the publishing journey, definitely the waiting!

Do you have any writing rituals that others may find helpful in their own writing?

I wouldn’t say this is a ritual, more of a mindset, perhaps: It doesn’t hurt to ask! For anything! As long as you are respectful, polite, and grateful, by all means, ASK. THE. QUESTION! Maybe it’s, “Is my manuscript still being considered?” Great one! As long as you’ve minded submission guidelines, send a brief email and ASK! Or are you seeking a blurb from an author you love? Say why you admire that author and ASK! I can’t tell you the many times putting myself out there and advocating for myself–not aggressively, but confidently–has led to positive results.

Welcome Jessica to Poetry Friday with your comments. Don’t forget to follow the Kidlit Progressive Poem to Sarah Grace Tuttle’s site today.

And because it’s National Poetry Month and I am writing a poem each day, I have a Zeno about the word Enough. J. Patrick Lewis invented the form using a mathematical pattern of 8,4,2,1,4,2,1,4,2,1 in which the one syllables rhyme. I’ve been watching ruby-throated hummingbirds fighting over the feeder.

Enough

When I am down, worried about
having enough,
God sends
me
hummingbirds flit-
flapping
free,
messengers of
“Enough,
See!”

Margaret Simon, draft

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Poetry Friday: NPM 23 Day 14: Do You Like What I Like?

Posted in Poetry, Poetry Friday, Writing, tagged Kimberly Taylor, Mary Lee Hahn, Pattern Poetry, student poetry on April 14, 2023| 12 Comments »

Today’s Poetry Friday Round up is with Jone, a gentle creative who always holds others up on her strong shoulders. Today she is gathering classic found poems. I forgot to do one. I have a good excuse. I’m presenting today at the Fay B. Kaigler Book Festival in Hattiesburg, MS with my friend and fellow children’s book author Leslie Helakoski. But I don’t like missing out, so I may try to get to it sometime this weekend. At Mary Lee’s post, I found a link to a poem video done by Jone’s student, Kimberly Taylor. It’s an amazingly powerful interpretation of Mary Lee’s poem Dandelions.

Leslie wrote a book entitled “Are Your Stars Like My Stars?” It’s a beautiful book about diversity in perspective using a patterned phrase i.e.”Is your blue like my blue?” I read the book to my students and had them write their own poem based on the pattern. Using blank books, they turned their poems into books. I’ll be sharing these with our session participants today. I wanted to feature Adelyn’s poem today. When she wrote it, it brought tears to my eyes because at such a young age of 10, she sees with more wisdom than many adults. And this gives me hope. Poetry gives me hope. Children’s book authors give me hope. You give me hope.

Do You Like What I Like?

Staring at the stars in cozy blankets, porch bound.
Are your stars like mine?
A fluff in my arms, a fuzz in my head.
Do you sleep like me?

Hugging them tight, don’t want to let go.
Do you love like I do?

When you’re sitting down, about to eat your food,
whether it’s makizushi, chimichurri or gumbo.
Think, do I do what you do?

I have trouble counting by eights but love doing equations.
Do you do math like I do?

I read some advanced books and read lots of chapter books.
Do you read like I do?

Sometimes when I get yelled at
or I try to tell someone something and they don’t listen,
I get overwhelmed and sometimes cry.
Are your feelings like my feelings?

I have dirty blonde hair and blue eyes and freckles.
Are your features like my features?

I like the winter but summer not that much.
Do you like seasons like I do?

When you lay down in bed,
getting ready to sleep,
do you ever think of these things like I do?

Do you ever think about how different other people could be
and think about how different you are from others?

We are all different and that’s okay.
As long as you are,
YOURSELF
by Adelyn, 4th grade

The Progressive Poem is with Janice Scully today at Salt City Verse.

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Poetry Friday and Progressive Poem are Here!

Posted in Poetry Friday, Progressive poem, Writing, tagged fibonacci poem, Inklings challenge, Progressive poem on April 6, 2023| 41 Comments »

Today I am juggling many hats. First, I am hosting the blog roundup for Poetry Friday. If you participate, the link up will be at the end of this post. 2. I have the next line for the annual Kidlit Progressive Poem (gentle hand-off from Donna who is wearing many hats of her own lately). 3. It’s the first Friday of the month which means a challenge from an Inkling (our writing group’s cute nickname).

The Kidlit Progressive Poem is the dream-child of Irene Latham. I am carrying the torch these days which means I round up all the volunteer writers and send them a reminder if they forget. Not a terrible job, really. So far, it all seems to come together in an amazing poem by the end of the month. You can follow the progression by clicking on the links on the side bar. Six days of April means six lines. I feel like I’m cheating because the line came to me immediately. Repetition is good in a poem and so are similes. Here is the poem with my line added in italics.

Suddenly everything fell into place
like raindrops hitting soil and sinking in.

When morning first poked me, I’d wished it away
my mind in the mist, muddled, confused.

Was this a dream, or reality, rousing my response?
The sun surged, urging me to join in its rising,

Rising like a crystal ball reflecting on morning dew.

The Inkling challenge this month comes from Mary Lee Hahn. She decided to choose random words as a prompt for a poem. The words were knuckle, denial, turn, cautious.

Molly Hogan, fellow Inkling, and I are using a calendar grid for National Poetry Month. Here’s a copy of our calendar which you are welcome to use if you need ideas. I chose to write a Fib poem, a form that uses the Fibonacci Series for syllable counts: 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8. (I just realized I didn’t repeat the one syllable line. Fudge it. Too late to revise now.)

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!Click here to enter

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NPM 2023: Morning Blogger

Posted in Poetry, Progressive poem, Writing, tagged Anne L. Simon, Joni Mitchell, NPM 2023, Writing from song lyrics on April 2, 2023| 11 Comments »

The Kidlit Progressive Poem is with Heidi Mordhorst today. Watch as the magic unfolds with each line. Yesterday Mary Lee landed us solid on the end of a story and Heidi has added a bit of rain. Tomorrow Tabatha will take us a step further. but not too far because we have many miles to go before we sleep.

Molly Hogan and I are working through our self-created challenge to write a poem each day. We thought a calendar without dates, more like a Bingo card, would give our writing some kind of structure with freedom. I am a morning blogger. Last night I went to a Cajun Fais Do Do put on by The Books Along the Teche Literary Festival. I danced, and danced, and danced. Feet tired and head spinning, there was no way I could have produced a post, let alone a poem last night. So I left it alone, this space blank until this morning.

Lately I’ve been listening again to Joni Mitchell. Her songs defined my college days (my husband and I saw her in an intimate concert more than 40 years ago) and when I listen now, I hear the pure poetry and smooth soprano of her voice. I am skipping down the grid a few “weeks” and writing from a song.

The lyrics for A Case of You led me to write about my 91 year-old mother-in-law. She’s an incredible woman whom I admire beyond the stars.

In the Light

for Anne Lennan Simon

I’m a lonely writer.
I live on a clean white page.
I’m frightened by my own grief.
And I’m drawn to those who age.

I remember when you told me,
you said, “You are a deep griever.”
Surely you know grief like mine
‘Cause a part of you is a part of me
in these words I try to find.

You’re in my soul like dandelions.
You’re my longed for wish.
You’re so pretty and so wise,
beauty and wisdom are yours.
I want to be like you, and
Still be in the light.
And still be in the light.
Margaret Simon, after Joni Mitchell “A Case of You”

Anne Simon with artist-poet Melissa Bonin at a recent party for LEH (Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities).
Her son, my husband Jeff is in the background.

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National Poetry Month 2023:

Posted in Poetry, Progressive poem, Writing, tagged #verselove, Ethical ELA, haibun, NPM 2023, The Isolation Journals on April 1, 2023| 2 Comments »

A collaborative calendar for NPM with Molly Hogan.

Happy National Poetry Month! I’m excited (and a little anxious) to start a new blog journey today. Last month I wrote a post every day in March for the annual Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life Challenge. You’d think after 31 straight days, I’d be ready to stop. But the practice of writing gets better and in many ways easier the more you do it. I am joining a community of teachers, poets, and bloggers who commit to National Poetry Month.

For starters, take a look at the first line of this year’s Kidlit Progressive Poem with Mary Lee today. She is setting us off on a long road to an amazing collaborative feat, 30 days, 30 poets, 30 lines.

Suleika Jaouad has an email newsletter, The Isolation Journals, in which she prompted “The Open Palm.”

Your prompt for the week:

Close your eyes, and slowly trace the outline of your non-dominant hand on a blank page. Take your time. Pay attention to the physical sensations. The sound of pen on page. The feel of paper against palm, pen between fingers. Surrender any illusions of control. Any attempt at getting it “right” or “perfect.”

Write a creative intention inside your palm. Around it, begin writing things that will invite you back to your practice—encouraging words, activities that inspire you, different ways of approaching your intention, small steps to get you closer to your goal.

Outside the hand: Allow yourself to daydream about what lies ahead. Write about where your intention could bring you. What it could help you discover. Record any new revelations and realizations, dreams or ideas that you want to carry forward.

Reflect on what happened in your mind and in your body at each step of the process, and how that awareness can guide your creative path.

Suleika Jaouad

This open palm feels like my opening up to this new month of writing daily, the practice of being open to what flows, without judgement, discovering the creativity that already lives in me. Thanks for being here. This haibun is from a prompt at VerseLove at Ethical ELA. I decided to abandon grammar rules and Flow.

Write, Just Write

Write fast she says without judgement keep the pen moving
across the page you can do this with one hand tied behind
your back standing on one leg let the flamingo in you blush
with delight until the timer stops ticking then rest breathe in
the feeling of success of soulsearching of secrets revealed
in your own abandon you are in charge here Be Be Be who
you want to be embrace her for she is yours forever.

Find a soft place
to land your soft body
sing yourself home.
Margaret Simon, draft

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Poetry Friday Last Day of March Slice of Life Challenge

Posted in Poetry Friday, Writing, tagged #Poetrypals, Etheree, National Poetry Month 2023 on March 31, 2023| 22 Comments »

Thank you to Two Writing Teachers for creating an amazing community of writers and a safe, welcoming space to write and share.

Poetry Friday is hosted today by Mary Lee at A(nother) Year of Writing

Whew! We made it to the last day of March. I wrote on this blog space for 31 straight days. I’m feeling a little bit proud that I made this commitment and accomplished it for the 10th year. If you read any of my posts, thank you. My readers and responders keep me going, keep me writing.

National Poetry Month begins tomorrow (no April Fools). The Progressive Poem calendar is full and lives in the side bar. Mary Lee will start us off tomorrow with the first line. She is also hosting today, so pop over and bookmark her site, A(nother) Year of Rea d ing.

Molly Hogan and I have collaborated on a calendar-chart of choices for our National Poetry Month writing. We intentionally did not include dates so we can see how the spirit moves and have some choice about the poems we write. If you wish to play along, we made a Canva calendar (not calendar).

The Poetry Sisters challenge this month was an etheree poem. An etheree is a poetry form that begins with one syllable in the first line and continues growing each line by a syllable until the tenth line has ten syllables. I looked back into my notebook to find this found etheree from an Ash Wednesday sermon from my priest, Annie Etheredge. (I just noticed how close her last name is to etheree.) Her sermon began with a poetic description of a blue bird nesting.

Nesting Box

soul
nesting
we could watch
mama bluebird
being a bluebird
collecting tiny twigs
flashing her royal colors
you see a fragile little frame
she pushed an egg out of her body
with a great flourish of her azure wings
Margaret Simon, found poem from Annie Etheredge’s Ash Wednesday sermon

If you have special plans for National Poetry Month, let me know. I’d love to follow along.

Photo by Hal Moran on Pexels.com

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Slice of Life Challenge Day 29: This Photo

Posted in Photography, Poetry, Progressive poem, Slice of Life, This Photo Wants to be a Poem, Writing, tagged #poemsofpresence, #smallpoems, Forest collage on March 29, 2023| 26 Comments »

Rainbow Promise

On wooded trails,
under the wild strawberry
a fresh fern unfurls,
new leaves replace old
heartshapes of gold,
a forest in rebirth.
Margaret Simon, draft

Rainbow collage collection, Lake Fausse Pointe trail photo by Margaret Simon

On a recent yoga Women’s Wellness Retreat, I collected things as I walked a forest trail. The instructor suggested collecting a rainbow. My collection includes an unripe blackberry, a piece of dead wood, a fiddlehead fern, a few wildflowers and leaves. When we stopped for a short break, I arranged them into something that pleased me and took this photo. I left most of it in the forest where I found it. I kept the heart-shaped leaf, fern fiddlehead, and the purple wildflower to press and tape into my notebook. We poets are pretty good at assigning symbolism to things. If this collage arrangement speaks to you in some way, write a small poem in the comments. Be sure to support other writers with comments as well.

I am planning a National Poetry Month project, but This Photo Wants to be a Poem will continue to be part of it. Consider adding this practice to your own NPM project. Follow my blog to get updates in your inbox. If you teach, you can use this prompt with students. Please share students’ poems as well.

I will also be posting links each day to the Kidlit Progressive Poem. I’m excited for April, my favorite month of the year.

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Slice of Life Challenge+Poetry Friday: Piles and Trees of Good Things and One Pile of Peeves

Posted in Digital Learning, Gifted Education, Poetry Friday, Progressive poem, Writing, tagged Ethical ELA, Pile poem, student poems on March 24, 2023| 29 Comments »

Rose Cappelli has the round up today at Imagine the Possibilities

Earlier this week I posted my Pile of Good Things Poem prompted by Stefanie Boutelier at Ethical ELA. Stef encouraged us to use technology and shared a design she made in Canva. I shared the prompt with my students on Monday. My little ones in 1st and 2nd could put together this idea for a poem. I am amazed at how easily they use technology at such an early age. Second grader James turned his pile into the shape of a tree.

I’ve been thinking about my pile of not so good things lately. You might say it’s a gripe poem, a pile of pet peeves.

My Pile of Peeves

Scent of cat pee
Anxiety at 3 AM
Morning cafeteria duty
When I’ve lost something
Hitting Send before proofing
A colleague diagnosed with cancer
An unconsolable child weeping over a mistake
The sound of my alarm when I’m actually sleeping
In carpool line, putting a student back into a toxic environment
The big white truck with extra tires passing me to make a right turn from the left lane.

Margaret Simon, ongoing draft depends upon the day

The Kidlit Progressive Poem schedule for April is full. You can copy and paste the code found on this post. Contact me by email if you have any questions.

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Slice of Life Challenge Day 17 and Poetry Friday: Thank you, Moon!

Posted in Gifted Education, Poetry Friday, Slice of Life, Teaching, tagged collaborative poem, full moon on March 17, 2023| 17 Comments »

Poetry Friday is hosted today by Laura Purdie Salas.

I am privileged to have the opportunity to write poetry with gifted kids. Their minds are open and in tuned to ideas. Most days they can’t wait to tell me what they are thinking about. Most days they want to write, welcoming the blank page. This week I shared with two of my young students (2nd and 3rd graders) photos of the full moon that I had collected from social media. I actually had another idea for them, but as we were looking at and discussing my picture of the moon above my neighbor’s house, they were full of questions and wonderings and a poem emerged. It was a happy moment because somedays little boys would rather be running outside than writing a poem with their teacher.

Click the image to see a larger view. Photo by Margaret Simon.

There are still a few dates available to sign up for the 2023 Kidlit Progressive poem. Click Here.

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Slice of Life Challenge Day 10/ Poetry Friday: Golden Shovel

Posted in Poetry Friday, Progressive poem, Slice of Life, Writing, tagged butterfly garden, gardening, Golden Shovel on March 10, 2023| 26 Comments »

Quote of the Day

A tree is known by its fruit; a man by his deeds. A good deed is never lost; he who sows courtesy reaps friendship, and he who plants kindness gathers love.
St. Basil, source 365 Days of Wonder

I literally yelled at the poor East Indian dude who answered my called to the credit card company. They shut down my credit card over 3 weeks ago due to fraud, and I still do not have a new card. I was livid. I bantered on about subscriptions being canceled so I couldn’t even watch TV. A bit of an exaggeration, but you get the point.

He patiently checked on the status and calmly explained that I should wait a few more days. I’ve heard it all before. Then I asked, “Why could the Disney Plus charge go through and I don’t even have the secret number yet?”

He again very patiently explained that some companies allow them to change over the recurring charges. “You mean I don’t have to get on the phone and call all these companies?”

My voice was calmer. I was breathing a little better. I apologized for yelling at him and promised I would try to wait a few more days.

Then I went outside to water plants and ended up pulling weeds. I’ve always wanted to be a gardener. One who enjoyed digging and planting. I am hopeful it may be happening. I was amazed at how easily I calmed down when I dug in the cool brown dirt, watched doddle bugs emerge, and felt that satisfaction that I was doing something productive.

Then I called Mary. Mary is my good friend who is a master gardener. I told her about my butterfly garden. She said, “Come over! I have some plants for you.”

I went shopping for plants in Mary’s yard and came home with pots of native sunflowers, a blooming ground cover, and one other butterfly plant whose name I’ve already forgotten.

The digging, clearing a space for something new, finding new plants, a gift of friendship all soothed by worried soul. And I hadn’t even gotten to a glass of wine yet.

Poetry Friday is with Heidi at my juicy little universe.

In my notebook this week I used the above quote to create a golden shovel.

“he who plants kindness gathers love.”

When he sees the first hummingbird at the hibiscus, he
gathers sugarwater for who–
ever may visit; he plants
bee balm, hosta, zinnia, and kindness
attracting a single ruby-red who gathers
us to the window to love.
Margaret Simon, draft