Welcome to This Photo Wants to be a Poem, a way to wake up your poetry brain. Please write a short poem (15 words or fewer) in the comments. Try to comment on other poems as well. Spread the word through sharing the link on social media.
I’ve been following Kim’s blog for a few years. We’ve never met face to face, but we’ve connect through National Writing Project and #clmooc and Slice of Life with Two Writing Teachers. I love how connections can be made across the continent. Kim lives near San Diego, California. She posts beach pictures often and is quite an amazing photographer. In this post here, she photographed a great white egret in her neighborhood.
See more posts at Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life
In the midst of the COVID-19 quarantine, there are some beautiful moments. My daughters had come into town for the weekend. Directives from CDC advised that my mother-in-law, who is elderly and immune compromised, should not be in closed quarters with anyone, so we all met at City Park for a Sunday morning stroll.
The ducks were busy in the pond. Lots of fluffy yellow ducklings to watch.
The weather was sunny and warm, close to 80 degrees. The shade was gloriously pleasant.
Baby Thomas, 6 months, took a little snooze in the sun. Then we sat under a grove of oak trees where Thomas learned about grass and leaves, his first experience with nature.
Nature consoles us. Walking with family is something we rarely do. I hope you are finding ways to spend more time outside.
See more posts at Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life
The Two Writing Teachers blog opens up a writing challenge each year in March, the Slice of Life Challenge. I’ve participated for 8 years, but decided this year to opt out and focus on other writing projects. Alas, the coronavirus has changed so much of our lives and our thinking. Our Louisiana schools are closed for 4 weeks. I’ve been reading other Slicers’ writing and feel it’s time for me to jump in.
Life has changed so rapidly. On Wednesday of last week, I traveled to our state capital to attend the BESE board meeting where I was honored with about 50 others for National Boards Certification renewal. It was nice to be recognized. Everyone was being cautious about shaking hands, yet we were passing around a common pen and trading phones around to take pictures. No one was really taking coronavirus very seriously.
And then by Friday, our governor had closed all public schools for 4 weeks.
The announcement was so sudden that few of us had time to process what this would mean for us and for our students.
Last night my husband had a long talk with his brother who is a medical doctor in Seattle. He is not the type to panic or overreact to anything medical. However, he is serious about the spread of COVID-19. It’s an exponential growth pattern, and I’m sure most of you have read about this.
The feeling is like the days prior to a major hurricane. We are watching the news expectantly. The stores are running out of essentials. But when will the hurricane come and will it ever pass? The weather is actually beautiful which is what it strangely does before a hurricane when all the bad clouds are being pulled into the storm. I feel the ominous calm.
At this point my plan is to post on our class blog daily. I sent my students home with extra books to read. I’m in touch with parents. We will meet as a faculty on Tuesday. This is a weird time. I’m trying to stay calm and stay close to home.
See more posts at Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life
On Saturday morning I was doing Saturday chores, i.e. cleaning the cat litter box. Spraying the hose into the box outside the back door, I heard a loud buzzing sound and looked up. The nearest tree is a sweet olive and when blooming, it often attracts bees. But the tree was not in bloom, and the bees were flying beyond it.
My husband, back from his morning run, thought perhaps they were in the shrubs. He walked around the carport to investigate.
“The bees are on the move!” he exclaimed.
It was an amazing sight. Bees flying everywhere and a huge cluster buzzing up high in the tree.
I took a video, of course. (I couldn’t get it to play in the blog.) I texted a few friends who keep bees, but the swarm was too high to be reached.
“They are God’s bees,” Jeff said.
God’s bees are God knows where now, but I was curious about what a swarm means.
From this source, thanks to a Google search, I learned that bee swarms occur when a colony has outgrown its space. It is a normal, natural occurrence that should not be disturbed. The bees in a swarm are not as defensive and will not sting as readily. My friend, Jim, said they are docile and fairly easy to catch and move to a container hive.
We have been experiencing an early spring this year. The temperatures are not significantly higher, but my azaleas are already blooming and the wood ducks are laying eggs in the wood duck house. We set up the Ring camera again this year and have been watching.
Nature seems to know something I don’t know.
Azaleas in my front yard blooming early in February.
Please visit my blog post from yesterday about David Harrison’s book After Dark that releases today. The publisher is offering a book giveaway.
See more posts at Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life
A painted sign in my daughter’s neighborhood. We had to take a picture, but Leo, having been released from the stroller, wanted to get down and walk.
I’ve been participating in Ethical ELA’s monthly 5 day writing challenge. I love this community of friends. On Sunday, the mentor text was a poem “What I Want Is” by C. G. Hanzlicek. The prompt is here.
On Friday night and Saturday morning, we had Leo who is now 14 months and loves to walk. I took him outside in our backyard and next door to swing. My neighbor has 2 grandsons, too, so she has set up baby swings hanging from a tree. I really could not imagine anywhere else I’d rather be. So the prompt led me to this poem.
What I want is what I have
when I’m with him walking hand around finger
down the hill to the bayou
to wave at the canoers even though they don’t
see us swinging from a rope
in the oak tree laughing just because
there are wildflowers too many to count
and a cool breeze to catch our smiles on
a day of only us pointing at birds
flying overhead Bird 1 Bird 2
Margaret Simon after C.G. Hanzlicek
On Monday I combined the Ethical ELA prompt to write a This is Just to Say apology poem with the image posted in Laura Shovan’s February poetry project.
photo by Jone MacCulloch.
This is Just to Say
I missed the turn to school today. My eyes were on the clouds
So soft and floating like giant snowdrifts above me in bouquets of white roses.
Forgive me, I’m late my head in the clouds dancing around in their fluff.
Margaret Simon, draft, after William Carlos Williams
Finding daily prompts in my email inbox help me to pick up the pen and notebook and make something. Creativity feeds my soul. The positive loving feedback is fun, too.
See more posts at Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life
Photo by Kay McGriff: “This photo is from one of our favorite activities twice each year–the Friends of the Muscatatuck River Society River Clean up.”
I have been writing a lot of poems lately with my students as we respond daily in our notebooks and with a Facebook group for Laura Shovan’s February Poetry Project.
The picture above was shared by Kay McGriff. She and her family participate in a twice-a-year river clean-up. I haven’t done this yet, but living near the bayou, we see all sorts of things drift by. This picture inspired me to look into this project.
Armed with an article, I decided to create a Bop poem. I was introduced to this form by my friend and critique partner, Linda Mitchell. Here’s a link to the form: https://poets.org/glossary/bop
People are messy. Rivers are easy to access. Everything can be found– shoes, tires, buckets, balls– whatever falls in sinks to a watery grave.
“You wouldn’t believe the stuff we find.”
Someone found a car, an old boat motor, ten feet of rope. It’s all trash pollution and doesn’t belong here buried in our drinking water. Imagine what the fish are thinking. People are crazy! Let’s get out there and clean it up!
“You wouldn’t believe the stuff we find.”
So share in the fun of the Annual Spring River Cleanup. There’s something for everyone to do. Volunteers will collect whatever they find walking the bank or paddling a canoe. Together we can save the river.
See more posts at Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life
Over the weekend news traveled quickly of Kobe Bryant’s untimely death and the heart-wrenching revelation that his 13 year old daughter died with him. I’m not a huge basketball fan, but I knew my students would come Monday talking about this tragedy. So when I saw Sara Ahmed’s tweet, I took notice.
This is the piece of writing that got me hooked on the @PlayersTribune
This is the piece of writing I would share with students on Monday to remember #KobeBryant
I copied Kobe’s poem Dear Basketball. We talked about Kobe, about the accident, and read aloud the poem. Later in the day, I saw a Facebook post of this video, so my last class watched the video as well.
As a writing prompt, I told my students they could write a letter to something they love or write a letter to Kobe from his basketball. This prompt worked especially well with my boys. I want to share three of my students’ poems.
Dear Kobe
From the first time you made me from a ball of socks and threw me into a hoop,
I knew that you would become one of the greatest. I knew that you dreamt of being one of the greatest, by how you put your heart and soul into me, day and night, never resting. You put your blood, sweat, and tears into me.
You worked day and night, making shot after shot after shot after shot, until you were finally able to put on that Lakers jersey with me in your hand, doing the thing you love the most.
I am grateful for all the years we spent together, but as you grow older, your body isn’t into running up and down the court, throwing the ball into the hoop, but I know your heart will always be with me forever and ever.
See more posts at Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life
Warning: This is another shameless Grandmother post. I received a wonderful gift from a friend, “Letters to My Grandchild”. It’s a little book with envelopes to tuck letters into. I love this idea because those books that you write in intimidate me. What if I mess up? This little book is just envelopes, so I can do multiple drafts before I place them into the book. Thanks, Dani!
I’ve been reading Ordinary Hazards by Nikki Grimes. This book will tug at your heartstrings as Nikki overcame a terrible childhood bouncing around in foster homes and facing her mother’s alcoholism and schizophrenia. The memoir is constructed with poems and notebook entries. Each poem is a poem in and of itself. Because of this, I can share poems from the book with my students without having to read the whole book to them. The content can be too tough for my young students.
On Thursday last week, I shared the poem “The Mystery of Memory #3”.
Think food, and nourishment comes to mind, but we all know it’s so much more. One bite of pineapple, and my tongue sticks to the roof of memory, gluing me to the last moment I savored a slice of pineapple upside-down cake at my grandmother’s kitchen table.
To read the complete poem, read Ordinary Hazards by Nikki Grimes.
One of my poems came out as another grandmother joy poem.
Think baby, and crying comes to mind, that piercing sound first heard as life. But we all know it’s so much more. So many firsts– first bath first smile first step first word.
When you send me a picture or video text, my heart swells with joy. Something new, something yours, now mine. A tiny finger wraps around my finger tingling with love.
Margaret Simon, after Nikki Grimes
A gummy Thomas smile to warm your heart.
My second grader Rylee is not yet worried about line breaks, but she heard the rhythm and sentiment of Nikki’s poem and wrote this (hands off from me) in her notebook.
by Rylee, 2nd grade
With line breaks by me:
Think of you buying a cake saver for your mom, and she’s going to open it, then she knows what it is. She likes it, then she is so happy that she bakes a cake.
See more posts at Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life
I saw the tweets, Facebook posts, and blog posts from Michelle Haseltine, and I said, “No!” I don’t need another group to join, another challenge to conquer, anything else to do! Just. Say. No.
That “no” lasted a few days, but the more posts I saw, the more I realized that this was the perfect thing to rejuvenate writing in my life and in my classroom.
Last year at NCTE 2018, I attended a notebooking workshop (wrote about it here) with Michelle and others. I came home inspired to make a commitment to notebooking in my classroom. At the end of the year on a field trip bus, I overheard one of my students talk to another one from a different school. She said, “I love notebook writing. Do you?”
Somehow things got in the way this school year. So the #100daysofnotebooking was just the thing I needed to bring out the notebooks again. We wrote every day last week.
I printed out this page, so we could keep a count of the days.
The notebook writing takes about 20 minutes in each of my three classes. I begin with some sort of prompt. We write to the Insight Timer set to 7 minutes. Then we share. Some of my students post their writing on our class blog, but this is not required.
Watching the Facebook page is inspiring (or daunting, depending on your point of view as some posts are very creative), but there is room for every type of notebooker. I’m enjoying trying out collage, writing to poetry, and word collecting.
As we continue, I’ll know more about how my students are growing their writing skills. Right now the routine of it is working. They look forward to the time to write, the time to draw, and the time to be themselves on the page.
Here’s a gallery walk of some of our pages:
Jaden was inspired by a poem by Nikki Grimes, Journey from Ordinary Hazards.
Notebook time leads to Flow, the concept that time disappears while we are immersed in a creative activity.
Karson’s One Little Word notebook page.
Breighlynn’s poem in response to Amy Ludwig VanDerwater’s poem The Pie of Kindness.
See more posts at Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life
My second grandson was born in September, nine months after my first. The year of 2019 has been a big change for me as I step into this new role. Juggling two daughters requests for babysitting got a bit tricky around the holidays. Luckily it worked out that Maggie wanted New Year’s Eve and Katherine the Saturday after.
On Friday I traveled to New Orleans after an all day rain storm. The drive into the city is beautiful as the highway is bordered by swampland. I can often see herons or egrets soaring above. This time, however, I noticed the multi-color clouds on the horizon. As the sun set, a bright red rainbow appeared. I aimed my phone camera and took this picture.
Red rainbow over Nola
Julieanne Harmatz, fellow blogger from L. A., was vacationing with her husband, so we met up for a lovely dinner. On Saturday, we met at the City Park sculpture garden where there is a new Cafe Du Monde. (Beignets are a must-have on any trip to New Orleans.) By this time, I was in total charge of grandson Thomas. He was the perfect host, smiling and cooing right on cue. Julieanne took this picture of us in the Sculpture Garden.
I’m learning once again (it’s been 29 years since I had a baby) how to juggle a diaper bag, bottles, stroller and carseat, and all that goes along with caring for a baby. Even with the monitor right next to my bed, I wasn’t able to sleep Saturday night. Thomas slept just fine. I wouldn’t exchange that loving smile for anything. Being a grandma is pure joy!
Margaret Simon lives on the Bayou Teche in New Iberia, Louisiana. She is a retired elementary gifted teacher who writes poetry and children's books. Welcome to a space of peace, poetry, and personal reflection. Walk in kindness.
