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Slice of Life Day 24: Stones for Stella

Posted in Poetry, Slice of Life, Writing, tagged healing stones, malachite on March 24, 2025| 7 Comments »

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

Maggie told me that Stella had found a crystal buried in their yard and brought it into her room.

“Ever since she’s been a little crazy.”

Stella turned four. What four year old isn’t a little bit crazy, with energy enough for whining and staying up past her bedtime?

My friends, Stephanie and Carolyn are interested in the healing power of stones. Stephanie brought me rose quartz and blue agate. “These are for Stella.” The idea is for Stella to put back the crystal she dug up, but knowing Stella as I do, these new ones will be added to a collection.

I looked up their meanings. Blue agate is said to bring calmness and emotional balance. The blue agate is the perfect size for Stella’s small hand. Over Facetime, she told me she loved the blue one.

The other is rose quartz which symbolizes everlasting love. Of course, lovely.

Carolyn said, “If I could be a stone, I’d be malachite.”

I listened and her words became a poem:

If I could be a stone,
I’d be malachite:
Rich, green, deep dark green,
swirls of frequency
from the depths of transition
before I was brought forth to the earth.
I’d be a strong stone.

If you could be a stone, what stone would you be?

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Slice of Life Day 22: Yoda Wisdom

Posted in Gratitude, Poetry, Slice of Life, Writing, tagged father, small things, wisdom, Yoda on March 22, 2025| 7 Comments »

As the 3 year anniversary of my father’s death approaches, I’m in a different place. A space of love and acceptance, appreciation rather than deep loss. Grief takes time. It changes but never fully leaves you.

For some reason that I can’t ask him, my father had a little plastic Yoda on the shelf in his bathroom. It was obviously something he wanted to see every day. I took it home with me and it lives in my closet alongside my mother’s jewelry box. I wrote a poem about it.

Wisdom of Small Things

I’m a collector of small things:
A miniature Yoda from my father’s
bathroom shelf reminds me,
“Do or do not. There is no try. “

Try as I might to let Dad go,
I still want him here
to guide me.

My father once told me
I could only do what I could do.
I remind myself everyday
to leave my students’ problems
at school.

Little Yoda,
help me lean on your wisdom.

Margaret Simon, draft

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Slice of Life Day 21: Poetry Friday: The Way to Breathe

Posted in nature, Poetry, Poetry Friday, Slice of Life, Writing, tagged #poemsofpresence, Bayou Teche, Ethical ELA, Just YA on March 21, 2025| 19 Comments »

EnneaThought® for the Day

Type Four EnneaThought®

“Are you still yearning for your ideal life? Appreciate the small daily pleasures, kind words, and heartfelt exchanges that are already present. You’re already more appreciated than you may think.”

I am a type four on the Enneagram. I’m the one who cries, who ponders over the past, and who turns to romanticism. Daily the message for me is to be present. Be still and know…

Recently I have felt rushed and busy. I try to take some time or myself in walks and in writing time. What space can I give to just being in the moment? How can I slow down to breathe and be present?

In poetry, I find a place to be present. When I write with specificity and imagery, I feel present. I also like the comfort of anaphora, a phrase that leads to a new thought. This poem I wrote in response to a prompt on Ethical ELA here from Sarah Donovan. She used the mentor poem “A Place to Breathe” by Christine Hartman Derr from a free Ethical ELA anthology Just YA.

There’s a Way to Breathe Today

It’s the way the sun
dapples the oak tree
with a halo of light.

It’s the way the cypress
needles pop out like
green leprechauns.

It’s the way a bayou
runs through and around
a town of ancestry.

It’s the way I sit
at my table with coffee
and a pen.
Margaret Simon, draft

I hope you find a little corner to breathe in today. Find stillness. Find peace. Write about it.

Don’t forget to sign up for a place in the Kidlit Progressive Poem.

Poetry Friday is hosted today by Rose Capelli at Imagine the Possibilities.

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Slice of Life Day 20: 1,000 Words

Posted in Poetry, Slice of Life, Teaching, Writing, tagged education, free verse poem, school, students, teaching, writing on March 20, 2025| 6 Comments »

How many words do you write in a blog post? Have you ever counted?

My students write on a blog site, Fanschool. (Some are doing the daily Classroom Slice of Life Challenge.) One of the cool features on Fanschool is the word count. I usually tell my students that 200-300 words are the best for blog posts. I use word count to encourage my young ones to elaborate on their topics. I also tell them that no one really wants to read more than 300 or so words at one time. Without my priming them, students will sometimes get competitive with themselves and others over word count. I’ve learned that while word count doesn’t really matter, it is something I can leverage if I need to. “Let’s set a goal for at least 100 words today.”

Chance didn’t need a word count limit or a competition; he was ready to pour out his heart and soul on the blog in the first quarter he landed in my class. He had things he wanted to share. At 4th grade, he’s not real adept at punctuating complex sentences, but when he writes, words flow. I was thinking of him when I wrote this poem.

The Space He Needed

On the blog space,
he wrote
and wrote.
I asked him “What are you writing?”
He said, “1000 words about my brothers.”

So many words, like a dam had been opened
to his life, his words.

A space to write
away from the constraints
of a paragraph about the Declaration
of Independence. The blog
opened his independence,
his need to tell the world
all he had been through.

For ten long years, he held
inside who he was, all his secrets,
waiting for this space
to declare his freedom.
Margaret Simon, draft

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Slice of Life Day 19: This Photo Wants to be a Garden

Posted in nature, Photography, Poetry, Poetry Friday, Slice of Life, Writing, tagged butterfly garden, ekphrasis, If poem on March 19, 2025| 11 Comments »

Each week I find a photo to write about. This form of poetry is called ekphrastic poetry, verse written in response to art. I invite my students to write alongside me on Fanschool. I ask my blog visitors, too. No pressure. If you feel inspired, write a small poem in the comments. Encourage other writers by visiting Fanschool or responding to writers here.

The spring means time to ready the butterfly gardens. This year I have to put my butterfly plants in pots due to a puppy that likes to discover things by nosing, peeing, and chewing. Last night he was chewing and chewing. When I finally scraped his mouth, I found an electric wire. Yikes! That could have caused all kinds of damage.

My poem today is after Amy Ludwig VanDerwater from a new anthology of poems by Irene Latham and Charles Waters, If I Could Choose a Best Day: Poems of Possibility. Each poem in the collection is an “If” poem. You can read Amy’s here on The Poem Farm.

If
after Amy Ludwig VanDerwater

If you could name a just right plant
for feeding pollinators this spring,
If milkweed, fennel, or parsley
are on your garden list,
swallowtails and monarchs, too,
may stop by this place for a day or two,
drop off an egg upon a leaf
to start a new life.

If you could name just one small plant,
and save it for the spring,
you’d plant a lifetime
once again
where butterflies can come
back home.

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Slice of Life Day 18: Zooming with Kim

Posted in Slice of Life, Writing, tagged Ethical ELA, Fay B Kaigler Children's Book Festival, Kim Johnson on March 18, 2025| 5 Comments »

“How did we meet, Kim?”

She knew right away. “I first knew you from your writing,” she said. “We met face to face when I was in the elevator at NCTE with my boot on because I had a broken foot.”

It all flooded back to me. Anaheim, California. NCTE 2022. I had been writing beside Kim and others at Ethical ELA, and this was our first in-person conference since 2019. I remember when we gathered on and around a bench in the convention center to write together. I remember going to the Slicer dinner and Kim had hobbled her way there, but we insisted she get an Uber back to her hotel.

On the Zoom call, we did not talk about all of this. We were recording our session for the Fay B. Kaigler Children’s Book Festival coming up in April in Hattiesburg, MS. The recording went well as we easily talked with each other about writing poetry, how writing with others can be validating, healing, and can lead to a connection with another person. Kim knows me better than many of my face to face friends because we write. Writing creates an intimate connection. It helps that we both have dogs and grandkids and live in the south. Kim’s Georgian accent makes me feel right at home.

While we were recording our session, we took the opportunity to share the Ethical ELA site. This is the week of the Open Write which happens for five days each month. Different community members offer a prompt. We opened up the webpage and scrolled to find Kim’s poem pretty close to my poem of the day. Another thing we share is we are early morning writers.

If you are looking for a safe place to write and share poetry, try Ethical ELA. At first it may seem intimidating, but, believe me, the community of writers is worth the risk. Today is the last day of Open Write and the prompt is from Katrina Morris, a Dictionary Poem. Join us?!

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Slice of Life Day 17: Weekend of Art

Posted in Slice of Life, Writing, tagged Acadiana Center for the Arts, art, En Plein Air, Student Art Expo on March 17, 2025| 6 Comments »

Art enriches our lives, helps us see new perspectives, and makes us proud.

Last week was the yearly City of New Iberia’s Plein Air competition. It happens every year in March and is usually good for a slice or two.

This year we did not host an artist, but we were invited to the preview art show on Thursday evening. While tapping our feet to the band on stage, we sauntered through the show.

Of course one caught our collective eye. New Iberia has a few iconic bridges across the bayou. This painting by Karen Philpot was a “quick draw” which means she did it in two hours. It still smells of the oil paint. I love how Karen scratched into the paint to create the lines.

Karen is so happy we bought her painting of the Daigre Bridge.

On Saturday I went to downtown Lafayette for the Student Arts Expo at the Acadiana Center for the Arts. Leo, Stella, and their dad met me there. We found Leo’s art work of the Jackrabbit.

Both of them enjoyed making a clay pinch pot.

Leo and Stella listen to directions for making a clay pinch pot.

Leo has been evaluated and will be entering the art talent program next year. I’m proud of the artist he is and is becoming.

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Slice of Life Day 16: My sister is in India

Posted in Slice of Life, Travel, Writing, tagged Holi festival, India, Sister on March 16, 2025| 9 Comments »

What’s app messages are exciting these days. My sister is in India. She traveled there last week with her husband, daughter, and mother in law. My brother in law was born in India, but he hasn’t been back since he was a small child. Their purpose is to leave his mother to live with her sister. But they have made it into a deep dive into the culture. Today they start a tour of Delhi, Jaipur, and Agra.

Her pictures are so fabulous. I asked her if I could share a few.

My sister asked me what souvenir I might like. I said the pictures are all the souvenirs I need. As you might expect, she was very anxious about this trip, so I love seeing that they are having the time of a lifetime. Saying goodbye next weekend will be tough. I suspect they may travel back next year. Maybe she will take her sister with her.

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Slice of Life Day 15: Pi-ku Day

Posted in Gifted Education, Poetry, Slice of Life, Teaching, Writing, tagged Pi Day, Pi-ku on March 15, 2025| 12 Comments »

Yesterday on March 14th, I received this text from a colleague who teaches gifted math:

Every year my students and I write pi-ku on Pi Day. I literally have to look up the definition each year. I’m a writing teacher, not a math teacher and for that matter, not a math person.

Some of my gifted students want to show me (in full song) that they have memorized the first 100 digits of pi. This year I banned the song. It’s a complete ear worm.

But I did encourage a pi-ku poem. These are short form like haiku except the syllable count follows the digits of pi. (3, 1, 4, 5, 1, 9)

Circumference
Earth
a peppermint
pizza
diametric ride
all of us have Pi Day every year
(Carson, 3rd grade)

Happy Pi
day!
March the fourteenth.
Hey
come with us to
celebrate the day with some good pie.
(Kailyn, 6th grade)

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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

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