Slice of Life | Reflections on the Teche

Archive for the ‘Slice of Life’ Category

Slice of Life: Waiting

Posted in Poetry, Slice of Life, Writing, tagged #poemsofpresence, Alzheimer’s Association on June 17, 2025| 9 Comments »

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

Waiting
for rain to stop
for lightning to pass
for time to walk

Waiting
for hen to return
for eggs to incubate
for ducklings to hatch

Waiting
for minnows to squirm
for ripples to fade
for wings to fly

Waiting
for water to break
for labor to start
for birth of a new grandson

Waiting
for swelling to abate
for injury to heal
for movement to return

Waiting
for her body to give up
for heaven to open
for another angel

My mother has been living with Alzheimer’s. Now she is dying. My siblings and I have told her she can give up the fight. She received her last rights. It’s a waiting game now. Her 89th birthday is tomorrow.

The Longest Day is a fundraising event for the Alzheimer’s Association. I am once again raising funds in honor of Mom’s birthday. The link to donate is here.

http://act.alz.org/goto/Dotgibson

My sorority ADK has made beautiful purple beaded bracelets. If you donate, I will send you a bracelet. There is little I can do to change my mother’s condition, but I can help the charge for more research and help for others.

Waiting…

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Slice of Life: Poem Porch Picnic

Posted in Blogging, Poetry, Slice of Life, Writing, tagged #poemsofpresence, Georgia Heard, Kim Douillard on June 10, 2025| 4 Comments »

Blogging in this space has led to many friendships over the years. Over the weekend I noticed that one of my online blogger-teacher-poet friends was in New Orleans for a National Writing Project conference. I am in New Orleans babysitting my middle grandson Thomas, so I reached out to Kim Douillard, and we met for lunch. I promised Thomas a visit to the aquarium after lunch, so he was cooperative. Kim and I visited like old friends. Her husband Geoff was with her, and he made the comment, “For two people who have never met, you seem so comfortable.” That’s the magic of meeting face-to-face someone you have been writing with for years.

Me and Kim Douillard of “Thinking Through My Lens” at a restaurant in New Orleans. Matching shirts were serendipitous.

Writing with others, even if it’s over screens, can be a powerful connector. If I read your words and you read mine, we get to know each other on a level that may be as deep as taking a long walk together.

Yesterday I dropped Thomas off at day camp and had some time to myself. I decided to take my notebook and current book of poetry, “The Stafford Challenge 2024-25 Anthology” to City Park for a Poem Picnic as suggested by Georgia Heard in her June newsletter. Today I am sharing the resulting poem. If you take a poem picnic, let me know. I’d love to read what you wrote.

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Slice of Life: What the Tree Knows

Posted in Poetry, Slice of Life, Teaching, Writing, tagged #poemsofpresence, Georgia Heard, wisdom poems on June 3, 2025| 4 Comments »

Once again, Georgia Heard’s newsletter delivers a wealth of prompts for writing. On Sundays I tutor a young writer. She is such a delight. This week she was eating cherries from her own cherry tree. I knew we had to include this in her poem, so I turned to Georgia’s poem “What the Trees Know.”

When writing poetry from the heart, you must turn to what you know. Amoret knows cherry trees. As I wrote beside her, I wrote about cypress trees. What tree would you write about?

I am pleased to share Amoret’s poem today. Her writing fills me with poetic-teacher joy. She has few inhibitions about putting words to paper and was happy for me to share her poem.

What Does the Cherry Tree Know?

A cherry tree knows how
To dance in the wind freely
And joyfully. The cherry tree knows
How to drink from its
Roots. To us, how it drinks
May seem fast, but to the tree
It’s like a walk in the
Park. The cherry tree
Gets showered by a hose
Rarely, but mostly the
Rain. When we say “Oh no,
It’s a-raining!” cherries are
Showering and drinking.

By Amoret, 9 years old

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Slice of Life: Six Year Old Activist

Posted in Slice of Life, Writing, tagged #beingmamére, early writing, Earth Day, Leo, literacy on May 6, 2025| 8 Comments »

The week of Earth Day was a spring break for my grandson Leo. Because he has working parents, he went to his former daycare for the week. We are not sure if that is where he learned about Earth Day, but he came home and wrote in his special journal (the one with the soft cover). Leo is in kindergarten, so he is new to reading and writing, but this grandmother/ teacher/ writer sees the potential of his writing. If nothing else, it will go in the archives of his earliest writing.

My interpretation: “How Do You Help The Earth”

Do not litter.
Do not throw trash on the ground.
Do not pick the plants.
Do not kill the plant.
Do not kill the environment.
Do not cut the trees because the trees help us breathe.

How do we help the people?

We can help people walk and help people get things if they can’t reach it.
We can help do the remote when people can help people keep up the house
and we can all help people get ready for a party.
We can help people if they have a broken leg.
You can help people if they are not tall enough to put up the lights.

How do you share?
You can give away something.

Keeping the world good.
by Leo, age 6 (kindergarten)

Photo by Porapak Apichodilok on Pexels.com

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National Poetry Month Day 22: You Matter

Posted in being mamére, Poetry, Slice of Life, Writing, tagged #beingmamére, #EthicalELA, #verselove, musical lyrics, National Poetry Month on April 22, 2025| 8 Comments »

I’ve been writing this month with Ethical ELA’s #Verselove. On Sunday, Susan Ahlbrand led us in a prompt called “Lingering Lines.” We could choose a song from a musical to use as inspiration. One of my favorite musicals is Waitress by Sarah Bareilles, and my favorite song is You Matter to Me. Try to listen to it without crying. I can’t.

This weekend my daughter was visiting with her son, Thomas, who is now 5 and a half. How time flies! He is the sweetest boy with an active imagination and crystal blue eyes. He loves me without condition which warms my mamére heart. I borrowed the song lyric and wrote a short poem for Thomas.

You Matter to Me

I find sea glass treasure in your eyes.
You look in my heart as a mirror
and smile for the picture frame.
You matter to me.

I sing a lullaby love song
and you think I’m magical.
You say “I love you” like they’re
the easiest words to say.

I know your love is true
innocence of a 5 year old
simple and free, no baggage
or judgement. You see
You matter to me.

Margaret Simon, draft

Kidlit Progressive Poem Update: Patricia had a family emergency, so Rose is taking her line today (at Imagine the Possibilities). That is one thing I love about this community. We can lean on each other.

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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.

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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 30: Birds and Flowers

Posted in nature, Photography, Poetry, Slice of Life, Writing, tagged first poem, flowers, spring on March 30, 2025| 7 Comments »

Spring is my favorite time of year
When the sky is blue and clear.
Birds are singing all around.
Flowers growing from the ground.

This verse was the first poem I remember writing. I was waiting for my mother to pick me up from my piano lesson and I was twirling around the tree in Miss Joe’s front yard. Maybe I was 12?

The words echo in my head today as spring is here. A week ago the cypress trees were still brown. Today they are bursting with bright green needles.

My friend Mary, who is a master gardener, sends me a photo every other day of flowers blooming. The fields that haven’t been mown are sparkling with purple and yellow wildflowers.

When I take my morning walk, the birds fill the page on my Merlin app.

Spring is my favorite time of year.

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Slice of Life Day 29: After Billy Collins

Posted in Gifted Education, Poetry, Slice of Life, Teaching, Writing, tagged Billy Collins, student poems, teaching poetry, Today on March 29, 2025| 6 Comments »

On Fridays, I usually post a poem for my students to read and discuss. This week we looked at Billy Collins’s poem Today. This has been a favorite of mine for a long time. When I looked back on my blog, I found a poem I wrote after Today in 2011. (See the post here.) My students were shocked by this because none of them were even born at that time.

Today begins with a wonderful line for getting into a poem, “If ever there were a spring day so perfect,” As the poem continues with two lined stanzas, there is no end punctuation until the last line, “today is just that kind of day.” The whole poem is one sentence. I love how this works to make the poem sound more urgent and energized.

I invited my students to use these lines to create their own poems about a perfect day.

Spring 2025
after Billy Collins

If ever there were a spring day so perfect,
so full of bird song

that it made you want to join
with your own singing

and open your whole mouth
to the world of nature,

a day when dew drops cool grass,
and the garden roses popping

with red reflect the sun, so much light
that you feel like breathing,

releasing the grief you’ve held in
and cry real tears at the beauty

of it all, walk with light
pink and orange rising before

you, welcoming you with open arms
of rose and green and sky.

Today is that kind of day.

Margaret Simon, draft

As we head into spring, Avalyn and some other students are still dreaming about the amazing snow we had this winter. She asked if she could write about a winter day. “Of course, it’s your poem.”

If there were a winter day so perfect
so cold with icy air

Could I pretend to hunt ghosts
while drinking a warm cup of hot chocolate

Could I put on layers of clothes
and roll in the snow

Could I sit in my warm bed
watching TV and “being productive”

Could I play outside bands
performing plays

Could I read a book
my best days

Dreaming of presents can you imagine?
Well you can because today is that day.

Avalyn, 5th grade

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