Slice of Life | Reflections on the Teche

Archive for the ‘Slice of Life’ Category

Morning

Posted in Poetry, Slice of Life, tagged aubade, hummingbirds, morning, spring on March 26, 2013| 7 Comments »

Slice of Life Challenge Day 26

An Aubade, praise poem for the morning, inspired by Frederick Snock’s Morning presented on The Writer’s Almanac post yesterday.

All year long there is
a window by the red coffee pot,
a ship’s porthole looking
out to the day’s beginning.

Sometimes there is a jay
in the birdbath beyond,
if the cat isn’t there,
flapping feathers clean and blue.

Today, I filled the feeder
with sweet red juice
waiting for spring hummers
come to decorate the sky.

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Wisteria Lament

Posted in Poetry, Slice of Life, tagged Louisiana, Nature poems, wisteria on March 25, 2013| 7 Comments »

Slice of Life Challenge Day 25

This is a clogyrnach, a Welsh poetry form inspired by Paul at birds and trees of the mind. This wisteria blooms each spring outside my bedroom window. I think I write a poem about it every year.

Lavender locks lighten the sky.
In bloom, wisteria curls cry
sweet nectar of tears,
purple popcorn tears.
Bumblebees lick them dry.

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Immersed: A Book Spine Poem

Posted in Poetry, Poetry Friday, Slice of Life, tagged Book Spine Poetry on March 24, 2013| 8 Comments »

Slice of Life Challenge Day 24

On Friday, Poetry Friday, Elsie shared this call: Travis Jonkers, from 100 Scope Notes (http://100scopenotes.com/) puts a call out each year for your (yes, you) spine poetry. He said, “If you do give it a go, take a picture and post it to your blog, or send it my way via email (scopenotes (at) gmail (dot) com). On Tuesday, April 2nd I’ll be posting a gallery with all your work, and continue to add to it for the entire month.” Click here to go to a page of hints and examples of spine poetry.

On Friday, I gathered some books in my classroom to create this book spine poem. This is fun for kids, too, but makes a mess of your library…creative chaos.

The beautiful stories of life
immersed in verse
inside out & back again
live writing
a river of words

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Farmer’s Namaste

Posted in Poetry, Slice of Life, Spiritual Growth, tagged Episcopal Relief and Development, honey, Lent, meditation on March 23, 2013| 11 Comments »

Slice of Life Challenge Day 23

For Lent, I signed up to receive a daily email meditation from Episcopal Relief and Development. The other day, the meditation was written by Sister Catherine Grace. She quoted from a prayer from the spring equinox service, “Let us be honey to each other.” That line jumped out at me and I wrote a poem. At school on Friday, a student showed up with this bottle of honey for the ice cream sundae party. This is the kind of honey we should be, home-grown and bottled in a hug-able teddy bear.

The Farmer’s Namaste

Let us be honey for each other,
Sweet on the tongue
tasting natural and real
lasting a long time.

Let us be a cup of tea for each other,
spreading comfort and warmth,
close to the heart
shared with conversation.

Let us be bread for each other
kneaded and risen,
nourishing the body and soul,
broken yet making whole.

Let us be namaste to each other,
see the One in you
as you see in me.
Look straight into my eyes;
find only love.
–Margaret Simon

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My Journals

Posted in Poetry Friday, Slice of Life, tagged journals, scribble and jot on March 22, 2013| 15 Comments »

Slice of Life Challenge Day 22

School Journal

School Journal
Wide-ruled,
100 lined pages,
composition book
covered in pictures I love
laminated with packaging tape
for Mrs. Simon only.

Car journal

Car Journal
Tucked into a pocket near my right knee,
ready to capture a wayward thought
before it flies out the window.
Flower-printed cover
wrapped with a rubber strap,
a gift from a friend.

Home Journal
fits nicely in my purse,
no lines, orange paper cover,
stocking stuffer from Santa,
open for words and wonderings,
contains recycled paper
printed down home.

Scribble and Jot journal

New Journal
ordered on Etsy from Scribble and Jot,
artfully handmade, stands on its own,
stitched together with thread
holding pages from a discarded book about plants,
too new to write in.
I just like the smell.

Visit GottaBook for more Poetry Friday posts

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My Little Town

Posted in Slice of Life, tagged CNN, downtown, Louisiana, New Iberia, small town, tourism on March 21, 2013| 10 Comments »

Slice of Life Challenge Day 21

Driving home from school today with spring in the air, I took notice of my little town. Recently, New Iberia was recognized as one of CNN’s American Best Small Town Comebacks.
(If you scroll to the picture of New Iberia Main Street, you can see what very well may be my red Camry turning at the light.)

First Stop: Evangeline Theater, now known as The Sliman with The Bayou Teche Museum on its right. These restored buildings offer places to mingle with friends at a fundraising event or performance and a great field trip destination for students and adults to learn about the history of the area.

Main Street, New Iberia

Next Stop: Church Alley, not a pleasing site, yet. A group of young activists have plans to spruce up the place and create a mini-park. This alley historically connected the convent across the bridge to St. Peters Catholic Church. In South Louisiana, towns built up around the church.

Church alley

Third Stop: The Essanee Theater, now home to IPAL (Iberia Performing Arts League). On Sunday, I attended the current performance, Man of La Mancha. It was better than Broadway. The final performances are this weekend. You really shouldn’t miss it. New Iberia is home to many talented folks.

Essanee Theater, home to IPAL

Last Stop: A&E Gallery. My friend and colleague, Paul Schexnayder opened this gallery a few years ago. Many artisans have joined to show and sell their work. Paul opens his doors for poetry readings, too. The next poetry night will be Saturday, April 20th at 6:30 featuring Louisiana’s former poet laureate Darrell Bourque whose new book of poetry chronicles the original Cajun people who settled the Acadiana area.

A and E Gallery

Each of these places occupies a historical space. You can feel the ancestors speaking to you. You can hear their words, “Welcome Home.”

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Maybe this is a Poem

Posted in Poetry, Slice of Life, tagged found poetry on March 20, 2013| 5 Comments »

Slice of Life Challenge Day 20

On Sunday, I posted a poem I created using lines I read on Facebook, emails, and in blogs. I tried it again. I’ve actually been working on this one for three days. I keep coming back to it, moving lines around. I’m not totally pleased with it yet. When you use other people’s words, trying to keep the integrity of the quotes while making it fit into a poem carrying can be like building a puzzle out of mismatched pieces. Maybe a piece is missing. Maybe I put one in the wrong place, and it kinda fits but not quite. Whatever the result, I do enjoy the challenge.

Maybe it’s not too late for sugar cubes
and slotted spoons and green fairy sips
traveling throughout the body offering love,
acceptance, and gratitude.

I am perfection.
I am healthy.
I am strong.

We believe in categories and think they’re true.
Our visions will become clear when
our words are as good as our actions.

Hymns are bigger than any mistakes;
you fumble, turn the page, sing the wrong words
yet the room fills with song,
and the hymn expands.

I sing.
You sing.
We sing.

Look into your own heart.
Sometimes the cliché photograph
tells the real truth.

Created with words from wise poets: Carl Jung, Anne Lamott, Oprah Winfrey, Philip Gould, James McDowell, and Paul, an English teacher from Alberta.

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Gardening is Not for Me

Posted in Slice of Life, tagged gardening, spring on March 19, 2013| 5 Comments »

Slice of Life Challenge Day 19

I think gardening is one of those things, like painting or writing, that can become a passion, but it must be in your blood first. Gardening did not get into my genes. I do not descend from farmers. That is my excuse and I am sticking to it. Gardening is just not for me.

Recently at a wordlab, we were asked to write a lie on a cute little 2×3 note decorated with a little sketch of a bee. Maybe the bee led me to think of this, but my lie was “I love gardening. The sensual feeling I get when digging comforts me.” Believable, right? We put our little lies in a hat and picked someone else’s lie to write about.

The irony of this dread of gardening is that I am surrounded by beauty. Luckily, we bought an older house that already had established landscaping. So when springs comes, I can cut bridal lace and azaleas from my yard. In the fall, we harvest satsumas. In the winter, camellias. But when summer comes, the growth is abundant. Weeds, weeds, and their nasty companions, wasps.

My daughter says maybe I should take a class. But can a class get into my blood and change me into someone who loves dirt and weeds and sweat? I don’t think so. Gardening is just not for me.

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Gator Tossing

Posted in Slice of Life, tagged alligator farming, Louisiana, swamp on March 18, 2013| 2 Comments »

Slice of Life Challenge Day 18

One year old alligators wait to be tossed into the wild swamp.

When you live in South Louisiana, you have to get used to eating crawfish (love them!) and boudin (haven’t developed a taste for this one.) We live near bayous, not rivers. We dance to Cajun and Zydeco music. And we wrestle with alligators! Not really. In fact, I’ve lived on the Bayou Teche for more than 8 years, and I have not seen one anywhere close to our yard. Nevertheless, the alligator is an important and sometimes frightful reptile around here.

When I was scrolling through Facebook yesterday, I enjoyed the pictures and video of one of my daughter’s friends, Lizzy. She and her mom had gone out that morning to a rice farm near Abbeville to help release baby alligators back into the wild. The farmers harvest the eggs and incubate them. In the spring, they hatch them. I recall years ago when these same farmers showed up in the parking lot of our school hauling crates of dead grass. When the crates were opened, we could see soft white eggs popping up from the grass bed. When the farmer handed an egg to a student, he instructed them to rub the eggs and the tiny alligator began to emerge. The stimulation helped them hatch out of the egg. Of course, in the wild, the momma gator rubs her eggs when the time comes. The kids were so thrilled to be hatching the little gators. I even did it, as scared as I am of reptiles.

The first gator to be tossed. Behind notice all the bags. Each holds 1-2 baby alligators.

Lizzy and her mom, Lisa were invited to help release some of the baby alligators that were hatched last year. They were tossing them into the swamp. According to Lizzy, the eggs had been harvested, incubated, and hatched a year ago. Because of the policies of Wildlife and Fisheries, a percentage of the hatch has to be returned to the wild. This is the way they do it. A grand celebration of lively gator tossing.

From Lizzy: ” It was fun to handle baby alligators (in a safe environment with skilled professionals). It was a bit scary when the animals wiggled around (I am a person who does not like the company of snakes because of their serpentine movements) since the motion is a bit creepy to me. I often forgot that their mouths were banded (before we tossed them), so when I would grab them from the sack/ground, my natural reaction was always to flinch each time the alligator lifted its head in defense. Overall, it was a lively and entertaining experience.”

This video shows Lizzy’s mom, Lisa, tossing a gator.

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15 Lines Talking to Me Today

Posted in Poetry, Slice of Life, tagged craft, Poets and Writers on March 17, 2013| 10 Comments »

Slice of Life Challenge Day 17

The Poets and Writers prompt for poetry this week was this: “There are 15 lines presenting themselves to you today. Use them to craft a poem.”

So I grabbed some lines while I checked email, blogs, and Facebook. This poem reflects a weird collection of what I read.

15 Lines Talking to Me Today

Words are swimming in my head like little nuggets of time;
words of wisdom, words of observation, words of passers by.
I trust this wisdom is full of magic.
The simple things are the most extraordinary
if only we could see them.
Make a choice with one hand on your heart.
Look for sheep and the shepherd will care for you.
When a pigeon is nesting in the eaves, open the window.
The chicken is innocent though the pile of feathers is telling.
We can make our lives easier if we just listen.

Take these words and make them inchworms,
the caterpillars of geometer moths.
Let’s kench (laugh loudly) together.
You should know, no matter what else,
you are my sunshine.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day from my dog Charlie. We went to a dog walk in the park yesterday to support our local Humane Society. He’s all kerchiefed and ready to walk.