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Poetry Friday NPM Day 18: Kidlit Progressive Poem

Posted in Poetry Friday, Progressive poem, Writing, tagged #KidlitProgressivePoem2025 on April 18, 2025| 10 Comments »

The Poetry Friday Roundup is with Jone MacCulloch

Irene Latham originally created the idea of a Kidlit Progressive Poem for National Poetry Month. Poets from the Poetry Friday community participate in adding a new line each day in the month of April. I took over the coordination of this effort in 2020. This year Linda Mitchell started us off with a wonderful first line, “Open an April window” that gave us a view of spring. Our poem is for children, so I imagine a child character walking through our poem. I didn’t have to look farther than my own backyard to find inspiration.

Open an April window
let sunlight paint the air
stippling every dogwood
dappling daffodils with flair

Race to the garden
where woodpeckers drum
as hummingbirds thrum
in the blossoming Sweetgum

Sing as you set up the easels
dabble in the paints
echo the colors of lilac and phlox
commune without constraints

Breathe deeply the gifts of lilacs
rejoice in earth’s sweet offerings
feel renewed-give thanks at day’s end
remember long-ago springs

Bask in a royal spring meadow
Romp like a golden-doodle pup!

The full schedule is here:

April 1 Linda Mitchell at A Word Edgewise
April 2 Tricia at The Miss Rumphius Effect
April 3 Robyn at Life on the Deckle Edge
April 4 Donna Smith at Mainely Write
April 5 Denise at https://mrsdkrebs.edublogs.org/
April 6 Buffy at http://www.buffysilverman.com/blog
April 7 Jone at https://www.jonerushmacculloch.com/
April 8 Janice Scully at Salt City Verse
April 9 Tabatha at https://tabathayeatts.blogspot.com/
April 10 Marcie at Marcie Flinchum Atkins
April 11 Rose at Imagine the Possibilities | Rose’s Blog
April 12 Fran Haley at Lit Bits and Pieces
April 13 Cathy Stenquist
April 14 Janet Fagel at Mainly Write
April 15 Carol Varsalona at Beyond LiteracyLink
April 16 Amy Ludwig VanDerwater at The Poem Farm
April 17 Kim Johnson at Common Threads
April 18 Margaret at Reflections on the Teche
April 19 Ramona at Pleasures from the Page
April 20 Mary Lee at A(nother) Year of Reading
April 21 Tanita at {fiction instead of lies}
April 22 Patricia Franz
April 23 Ruth at There’s No Such Thing as a Godforsaken Town
April 24 Linda Kulp Trout at http://lindakulptrout.blogspot.com
April 25 Heidi Mordhorst at My Juicy Little Universe
April 26 Michelle Kogan at: https://moreart4all.wordpress.com/
April 27 Linda Baie at Teacher Dance
April 28 Pamela Ross at Words in Flight
April 29 Diane Davis at Starting Again in Poetry
April 30 April Halprin Wayland at Teaching Authors

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National Poetry Month Day 15: Sunrise

Posted in Photography, Poetry, Progressive poem, Slice of Life, Writing, tagged #EthicalELA, #griefpoem, #nature, #poemsofpresence, #sunrise, #verselove on April 15, 2025| 8 Comments »

I am writing daily poems with Ethical ELA’s #verselove. Today’s prompt is with Brittany Saulnier.

Visiting my mother is filled with emotions for me. Bittersweet is a good word because she’s still here with us, but in many ways she is far from us. Her Alzheimer’s is advancing slowly at this point. Each visit she’s thinner and less able. Yet, she knows me and loves me and tries so hard to talk to me. This morning I will visit her before I drive back to Louisiana. Will this be the last time? Who knows?

At the hotel, I looked out at a beautiful sunrise. It reminded me of days sitting on the back porch with Mom and Dad looking at the lake behind their house. How I long for those easy days. There was always a heron that came to perch. All of these thoughts came when I read Brittany’s prompt to write about nature using 3 different colors.

Outside the hotel window in Ridgeland, MS.

Sunrise

I wake to sky color–
golden-white-lined gap
in purple-blue clouds

where sun rays sparkle
through
like angel wings.

Bittersweet grey clouds
hover high
like heaven’s shroud

reflected in heron’s stealth.

I imagine you next to me
with the news (all ghastly)
and your coffee mug steaming.

We sit in silence,
the silence of years between us
looking for the heron.

Margaret Simon, draft

The Kidlit Progressive Poem continues its ride through spring with Carol Varsalona at Beyond Literacy Link.

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

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National Poetry Month Day 14: Safe Harbor

Posted in nature, Poetry, Progressive poem, Writing, tagged #verselove, childhood, Ethical ELA, Padma Venkatraman, Safe Harbor, tanka on April 14, 2025| Leave a Comment »

Today’s #verselove prompt is from Padma Venkatraman who wrote Bridge to Home and most recently Safe Harbor. Her books never fail to take me to a new place where I can find a relatable character and beautiful language. What a honor to have her writing a prompt for us based on her latest book. She invited us to write about a safe place.

I am visiting Ridgeland, MS, a few miles from the place I grew up. While my visits here bring forth many emotions, this morning I wanted to find solace in a walk in nature. Even though my hotel is near an outdoor shopping mall, there is a creek nearby with a walking path. The creek is the very same creek that ran behind my childhood home, Purple Creek. I used the poetry form of tanka (haiku with a chorus) which has a syllable count of 5, 7, 5, 7, 7.

The Kidlit Progressive Poem is with Janet today at Donna’s blog, Mainely Write.

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Poetry Friday: I Remember

Posted in Poetry Friday, Progressive poem, Writing, tagged #verselove, Ethical ELA, I remember, Kim Johnson on April 11, 2025| 14 Comments »

Irene Latham is gathering Poetry Friday today at Live Your Poem

I didn’t want to write about my father today, but I woke up and looked at the clock at 4:44 AM, so there he was. He would tell us that he always woke up at 4:44. He had a thing for double numbers. His birthday was 11/11/33. On this day 4/11/22, he had a stroke and died 11 days later on 4/22/22.

When I opened #Verselove, I saw a prompt that Kim Johnson shared in our poetry session on Wednesday at the Fay B Kaigler Children’s Book Festival. Unfortunately, Kim had a family emergency, so she had to leave on Thursday. She is supposed to be sitting with me as I write this morning. The loneliness has gotten the best of me, so I had to write about my father. As Kim and I said to our session participants, poetry can be healing. It’s a place of vulnerability. Kim’s prompt can be found on Ethical ELA.

Remember

I remember
the phone call
in the middle of class.
I answered it.
I remember thinking something bad had happened.

I remember I packed a bag
for 3 nights max (I stayed 2 weeks).

I remember the gruff hospitalist
rattling the bed with her pronouncement
of no hope. You stared after her
with anger and fear.

I remember the long days
as you fought, grabbing tubes,
glaring helplessly,
speech stolen by the stroke.

I remember tears and singing,
prayers whispering, silently longing
to bring you back to us.

I remember someone said
the deepest grief comes from the deepest love.
I wasn’t ready to remember.

Margaret Simon, draft

The Kidlit Progressive Poem is with Rose today at Imagine the Possibilities.

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This Photo Wants to be a Poem: Mural Art

Posted in Photography, Poetry, Progressive poem, This Photo Wants to be a Poem, Writing, tagged Ethical ELA, National Poetry Month, New Iberia, tricube on April 2, 2025| 18 Comments »

Mural in process at The Southern Linen Company, New Iberia, Louisiana

I was running late for a lunch date with friends, but I had to stop. The artists, Hannah Gumbo and Terez Molitor, were hard at work painting this bright and cheerful mural. A little while later, they stopped for lunch at the same cafe. I was able to get their names and thank them for their tireless work on the mural. They both lit up. Creating this art brought them joy. And now it will bring joy to passers-by. Public art is for everyone!

Can you write a small poem inspired by this photo? Join us in the comments. After you write, be sure to stop back by to leave some comment love on other writers’ poems. Together we are creating art with words.

At Ethical ELA Verselove, Leilya inspires us to write a tricube poem. This form is 3 stanzas of 3 lines with 3 syllables each.

Mural Art

In spring, red
dances with
yellow light.

Buds become
butterfly,
bee feeders.

Painted walls
fill my heart
with delight.
Margaret Simon, draft

The Kidlit Progressive Poem is with Tricia today.

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Slice of Life Day 31: Endings and Beginnings

Posted in Blogging, Books, Progressive poem, Slice of Life, Writing, tagged 2025 Kidlit Progressive Poem, Fanschool, Were You There? A Biography of Emma Wakefield Paillet on April 1, 2025| 6 Comments »

Today is the last day of March which means I have finished my 12th year of writing a slice of life for 31 days. It’s easy to think this is some great accomplishment. But who matters more to me are the bloggers I do this with. Through the Two Writing Teachers blog, we have connected over time and space and supported each other. I always end with the wish that I had read more and commented more. What a wonderful community of teacher-writers! Thank you!

I also want to express my pride over my students who stuck with the daily slicing challenge. Julian wrote “This is the final day for writing and I cannot believe I actually did it. Before I ever did this challenge I was having trouble with writing 1 SOL a week. I never would have thought I would be able to write one continuously for a month straight. But I did and I’m very proud of myself.” You can view their posts at Fanschool/ GT Allstars

Tomorrow begins another writing adventure: National Poetry Month. Many of my poet blogger friends are doing projects. I will be writing with Ethical ELA VerseLove as I have done since 2020. At Ethical ELA, there is another great community of teacher writers who support each other.

I coordinate a gathering of children’s poets to write the 2025 Kidlit Progressive Poem. Linda Mitchell has bravely agreed to start us off. You will find her post at A Word Edgewise. We have three slots left at the end of the month if you want to play along. Kidlit Progressive Poem 2025 Sign Up.

Tomorrow is a big day for me. Release day for Were You There? A Biography of Emma Wakefield Paillet that I co-authored with Phebe Hayes. I will be presenting this weekend at the Books Along the Teche Literary Festival at the Shadows on the Teche Visitors Center at 11:15 AM on Saturday. My co-author Phebe Hayes and I are excited to launch this important book about the history of New Iberia, LA. If you are local, please join us for this long awaited release.

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Slice of Life Day 28: Poetry Friday: Revision

Posted in Gifted Education, Poetry, Poetry Friday, Progressive poem, Slice of Life, Teaching, Writing, tagged Fanschool, revision, student poems, triolet on March 28, 2025| 15 Comments »

If you are a blogger and would like to add a line during National Poetry Month to our Kidlit Progressive Poem, please make a comment or send me an email with a date choice and a link to your blog. Everyone is welcome to play!

The early morning school playground was covered in a sheet of fog. Avalyn and I went outside to write. This is something she often requests. There is an old oak with a picnic table in a just right spot for writing in our notebooks. I wrote about my surroundings, observations of the morning.

The fog hovers over the playground.
I hear echoes of a church bell chime.
Traffic moves beyond
carrying the day-workers.
Birds call to mates
as spring slowly wakes
sprouting on this weary morning.

Form can give us a container for our words. I looked up the triolet form. I labeled my paper with the number of lines and the rhyme scheme. The poem changed shape while still holding the mood.

Fog hovers on soft spring air,
tip-toes as a church bell chimes.
Work day traffic moves on everywhere.
Fog hovers on soft spring air.
Breeze tickles my face with hair.
Morning wakes right on time.
Fog hovers on soft spring air,
tip-toes as a church bell chimes.

(Margaret Simon, draft)

I used these two drafts to discuss revision with my students at the next school in the afternoon. I suggested they go back to a poem and revise it.

Max who is a humble poet will rarely share his poems out loud, so I asked his permission to share his revision here. He wrote it on Fanschool, and you can leave comments specifically for him there.

“Insects buzzing all around,

Bugs are feeding on the ground,

For there is no need for them to hurry,

So why should they need to worry?”

March 25th, 2025: I absolutely despise the quality of this poem. REVISE!

Insects hover in the air,

Gracefully, glide without care.

Spot a flower, beautifully white.

Harvesting energy, basking in the sunlight.

Insects, bugs, air and the ground.

Moving, flying, all around.

To hurry is not a worry, for them.

Unless by something, they’re found.

Then Scurry!

I would add something else, but this is just about it.
(Max, 6th grade)

How do you approach revision? Is it hard for you? I think students don’t usually like to revise. They like to write and move on to the next thing. Honestly until I read Max’s post, I thought the class didn’t think much of my little revision lesson. Modeling our own writing process with our students makes us vulnerable, but in the long run, shares how we all are in this together, writing side by side.

Poetry Friday is hosted today by Marcie.

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Slice of Life Day 14: Poetry Friday: I am From

Posted in Poetry Friday, Progressive poem, Slice of Life, Writing, tagged I am From, southern pot liquor on March 14, 2025| 22 Comments »

The “I am From” poem form has been a tried and true form to model with students. A few weeks ago, I pulled it out again in hopes to get my students to write for a hometown poetry contest. It didn’t really work out. But while I wrote with them, I ended up with a version that I liked.

I had to explain “pot liquor” to my students because the alarm bells went off when they heard the word liquor. Isn’t it funny how you can know something so well that you don’t even notice? Pot liquor is the distinctly southern delicacy of the broth from boiling greens. (AI says it is also “potlikker”.) My mother would mix it with corn bread and black-eyed peas and eat it with a spoon from a coffee mug. I never developed much of a taste for pot liquor, but what I wouldn’t give to smell it again.

I am From
“The most important aspect of love is not in giving or the receiving: it’s in the being” Ram Dass

I am from a gold pearl
ring on my right hand.
I am from a grandmother with my name–
(Margaret, meaning pearl)

I am from Dot, too,
from her laughter at things funny, not funny,
from her nimble fingers playing classical
piano. From lazy afternoons
with a Ding-Dong and a Coke.

I’m from photos by the azalea bushes
full pink blossoms rising behind our blonde heads.
From pot liquor with black-eyed peas
and pecan pie fresh from the oven
on Thanksgivings in Morton.

I open my mother’s jewelry box,
a calm of pearls and golden beads
slip on easily.
Margaret Simon, 2025

Click to sign up for a day of the 2025 Kidlit Progressive Poem.

To read other Poetry Friday posts, head over to Salt City Verse. Thanks, Janice for hosting this week.

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Slice of Life Day 7: Poetry Friday is Here: Hermit Crab Poem

Posted in Poetry Friday, Progressive poem, Writing, tagged 2025 Kidlit Progressive Poem, Aurora Forecast poem, hermit crab poem, Poetry Friday on March 6, 2025| 34 Comments »

I am hosting Poetry Friday. Please leave your links at the end of the post.

This month’s Inkling challenge came from Molly Hogan. “Write a hermit crab poem–a poem that takes the structure of an existing text like a recipe, job application, multiple choice quiz, script, or whatever! Here’s some more info https://jmwwblog.wordpress.com/2022/10/18/its-an-experiment-hybrid-how-tos-with-arden-hunter-hermit-crabs-part-1-of-2/“

I put this one off, I admit. I knew I had a week of break to prepare, but still I created this last minute. I went back to the poems I wrote for Laura Shovan’s February project using the theme of Space. I had a different poem in mind when I found one I had written about the Aurora Borealis. I had just talked with a friend whose daughter had seen the Northern Lights on a trip to Norway. He shared fabulous photos from his phone. Definitely a bucket list item for me.

I realized I could transform my poem into a weather forecast. The creation part took some time using Canva and playing with placement of lines. I tried to adapt some of the words actually used in a forecast. Forget time; I was in Flow. The image is a bit busy for my taste, but I had to get this post done for the early Poetry Friday posters.

To see how other Inklings did this challenge: Linda, Molly, Mary Lee, Catherine, and Heidi.

If you are interested in participating in the Kidlit Progressive Poem, click the link and leave a comment or email me your name, date chosen, blog name, and URL. Thanks!

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

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Kidlit Progressive Poem 2025 Sign Up

Posted in Progressive poem, Writing, tagged 2025 Kidlit Progressive Poem on March 6, 2025| 55 Comments »

Please sign up to add a line to the Kidlit Progressive Poem coming April, 2025. On your chosen day, you will copy and paste the previous lines of the poem to a blog post and add your own line. When you sign up, create a hyperlink to your home page. For example, Margaret at Reflections on the Teche. Thanks!