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A Gift and a Pantoum

Posted in Gratitude, Poetry, Spiritual Growth, Writing, tagged One Thousand Gifts, pantoum, poetry, spirituality on April 25, 2014| 11 Comments »

Poetry Friday Round-up is with Tabatha Yeatts at The Opposite of Indifference

Poetry can take you to unexpected places. This was my experience with writing a Pantoum. The form seems simple, yet it complicates things. The form is made up of 4-line stanzas. The second and fourth lines of the first quatrain become the first and third lines of the second, and this pattern continues. Often the last line repeats the first; although, mine did not. Poetry forms can both confine the writer and free her. In my experience, the rhymes confined me, yet the message I thought I was making changed with the writing.

A writing group friend gave me a book this week, One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp. It drew me in immediately. Her writing style is fresh. She writes with intelligence and honesty. I took a line from her second chapter, “How I wrestle with last night’s dream,” and then looked at notes from my meditation journal. I thought I would write about God as a loving center. The poem, however, seems more about my love, my husband, and his ever present trust in my life. You never know where a poem may lead. Sometimes we just have to follow.

How I wrestle with last night’s dream.
The words have all been said before,
nothing new, what can they mean,
written on the stone of this cold floor?

The words have all been said before.
I reach for your open hand so near
writing my love on the stone cold floor
words to erase my fear.

I reach for your open hand so near
like a child reaches for her mother.
Words will erase my fear
with trust in honesty and one another.

Like a child reaching for her mother,
I recognize that look on your face
with trust in honesty and one another,
open to your willing embrace.

–Margaret Simon, all rights reserved.

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Bird Watching (Nature Poem)

Posted in Poetry, Spiritual Growth, tagged 10, Bonne Terre Cottage, Luke: 9, nature poem on April 23, 2014| 2 Comments »

Bonne Terre Cottage, Breaux Bridge. Photo by Chere Coen

Bird Watching

I.
I cannot know
what has brought you
here this morning,
little hummer
with your ever-excited wings,
your deep red throat.
You hover
catch me watching
from my corner on the porch swing
and you disappear
leaving no sign
of your previous
energetic existence.

II.
I want to own
the mystery
hidden inside this moment.
Yet, my part is just
to be here
present with bird song
echoing in the air,
to praise you,
creator of all,
creator of me.

III.
It is true
that I am
not important.
It is also true
that my name
is written in heaven.
Even the foxes have holes,
birds their nests.*
Like the chickadee
pecking at the feeder
or the hawk circling above,
my spirit belongs
to the earth
to dust I will be.

–Margaret Simon, all rights reserved

*Luke: 9,10

Indigo bunting photo by Chere Coen

Cardinal photo by Chere Coen

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This I Believe

Posted in Chalk-a-bration, Slice of Life, Spiritual Growth, Writing, tagged Betsy Hubbard, chalkabration, I believe, Laura Purdie Salas, nonfiction rhyming poetry on March 31, 2014| 6 Comments »

Slice of Life Day 31. Join the Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life Challenge.

I believe in pink. I believe that laughing is the best calorie burner. I believe in kissing, kissing a lot. I believe in being strong when everything seems to be going wrong. I believe that happy girls are the prettiest girls. I believe that tomorrow is another day and I believe in miracles.
Audrey Hepburn

On Sunday, Patricia Pollacco posted this quote from Audrey Hepburn on Facebook. I took it on as a writing prompt for my last Slice of Life. I wrote 31 posts in 31 days, writing everyday and joining an amazing community of teacher-writers. The month has flown by. My students have loved this month of writing, too. Recently I overheard one student saying to another, “I can write about anything!” What a wonderful feeling! Please visit my class blog, Slice of Life Challenge, as they write their final slices and reflect on what this month has meant to them.

I believe flowers make the world more beautiful.
I believe every one can be creative.
I believe God is inside each one of us.
I believe the only way we can solve the world’s problems is through kindness.
I believe I may be one person, but to someone I may be the only one.
I believe we must pay attention. Listen. Be aware.
I believe when one door closes, another opens, and that we must be diligent in finding the open door.
I believe there are miracles every day.

Join the Chalk-a-bration over at Teaching Young Writers.

And now for Chalkabration! The end of the month Betsy Hubbard gathers teacher-writers who celebrate writing with chalk. Friday was a rainy day, so we stayed inside and wrote on our portable chalk paper. Partners worked together on nonfiction rhyming poems as inspired by Laura Purdie Salas’s Wednesday Workout.

They are cute
like a bamboo shoot
Can they play a flute?
They come in many shapes,
even grapes.
Can you guess our _____
They are fruit. Tyler and Kendall

Look upon this lovely sunset
The moon has not risen yet.
Earth and sun in perfect duet.
Look upon this lovely sunset. Brooke and Vannisa

Mesmerizing clouds of iridescence
Inky black plumage of brilliance
Dark plump birds in coexistence
Nature’s way of perfect balance. Kaylie and Matthew

The above poem was written about a YouTube video we viewed about starling murmurations.

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Give up/ Take on

Posted in Slice of Life, Spiritual Growth, tagged Episcopal, Lent, Michelle Haseltine, nerdlution, One Little Word on March 5, 2014| 13 Comments »

Slice of Life Day 5. Join the Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life Challenge.

Today is Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent. I am an Episcopalian. We do Lent. I will go to church later and have ashes put on my forehead and hear the familiar words, “You are from dust and to dust you will return.” If you think about it too much, it’s kind of scary. But I like the humility of it.

I have been reading a number of blog posts by teachers and by students. Yesterday, I read a student’s post about being yourself. Even as a grown-up this is hard to remember. I want to compare myself to all those other blogging teachers out there. I want to look at myself and wonder what I could be if I just made a decision and stuck with it.

Sometimes, though, it comes down to just being the best of the you you were made to be. I think that is the purpose of Lent. Lent’s not so much about the brow beating, guilt wrenching suffering of giving up. It’s more about sitting with God and adsorbing all the love he has to give and then living your own life. Not the life that you think you should be living, but the one you have. To the fullest.

Before I get too preachy, let me set my goals for my Lent. I did New Year’s resolutions that lasted a few weeks. I signed on for Nerdlution at the end of January and pledged to exercise, write, and be Open (my one little word for 2014). Now Lent. I’ve decided to give up sweets and not for the usual reasons. I want to loose a few pounds and I don’t want to diet, so practically speaking, giving up sweets may be all I need to do. (And exercise more, #nerdlution continues…)

Photo by Jennifer, Creative Commons, Flickr

The real practice for Lent will be my “take on.” I want to take on random acts of kindness. I have been inspired by Michelle Haseltine at One Grateful Teacher. Michelle set this goal for her Nerdlution. I have enjoyed reading about all her kind acts and amazed at how really easy it can be.

Now I am committed. I’ve made the pledge publicly. And I threw away a not quite empty bag of mint chocolate M&M’s! Tragic.

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Centering Prayer

Posted in Slice of Life, Spiritual Growth, tagged Centering Prayer, Contemplative Outreach, journaling, meditation on February 11, 2014| 16 Comments »

A new button for the Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life Challenge!

My journal “visual note-taking” at the workshop.

You will know that I am in the Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.”
–John 14:20

As I continue to try to practice Openness (my OLW) in 2014, I signed up to attend a Centering Prayer workshop on Saturday at my church, The Episcopal Church of the Epiphany. I have heard of meditation and the benefits of such a practice, and Centering Prayer is much like this, with a Christian emphasis. The above image shows my journal page as I listened to the presenter, Alan Prater, from Contemplative Outreach.

Alan spoke about friendship and the levels of relationship from acquaintance to intimacy. He said that our relationship with God is like those stages of relationship with others. I realized that my relationship with God has been at the friendliness level. I am comfortable in reflective prayer. I’ve tried to move to the friend level where responsiveness happens- opening my heart, feelings, and emotions fully. At this level, prayer is real and spontaneous, not rote. I asked myself if I was ready for(or even capable of) contemplative prayer, a level of intimacy. Could I open myself up to a pure gift of God’s presence, rest with God, and be totally comfortable in the beloved’s presence?

I was reminded that God does not want a wave on the street from me. God wants more. So I am committing myself to try 30 days of Centering Prayer, sitting in total silence for 20 minutes. I’ve chosen my place, a chair in the loft upstairs away from the household traffic flow. I downloaded the app “Insight Timer.” I’ve chosen a sacred word, “Abba.” One of the best gifts of the app is a journal button that comes up after the bell rings. This way I write immediately after my meditation. The words flow.

Here is my first journal entry:

Open
Abba
Sometimes
Flying
Angel lights
twinkle
sparkle
waves of purple
water
Abba
Father
Here
I
am…

Gian Lorenzo Bernini – Dove of the Holy Spirit (ca. 1660, alabaster, Throne of St. Peter, St. Peter’s Basilica, Vatican) Wikimedia Commons

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Celebrate a Holy Mess

Posted in Celebration Saturday, Spiritual Growth, Writing, tagged Bishop Jake Owensby, haiga, John Gibson, moon haiku, Pelican Anglican on December 21, 2013| 8 Comments »

Morning Light, photo by John Gibson

I temporarily forgot it was Saturday, Celebration Saturday. I was only thinking about the break. Whew! Here it is, two weeks off! I scheduled a facial this morning using a gift card my husband gave me for my birthday in August. I am Celebrating me today!

Celebrate imperfection and embrace holiness: Bishop Jake’s message touched me this morning. He always has some wonderful wisdom to offer. Today he tells us that we are not called to be perfect. We are born imperfect, and we will always be that way. This week my daughter, Martha, is home from Chicago. Celebrating her! She went to the eye doctor for the first time in probably more than 10 years. (Pass the guilt knife over.) She discovered not only that she is far-sighted like her mother, she also has a congenital defect in her optic nerve. The defect, Thank God, is harmless. Her amazing blue eyes are not perfect, but they are still lovely.

I spend a lot of time trying to be perfect. I would guess many of us do. It was refreshing to hear that I am not perfect and never will be. However, I am holy. This comes with a huge responsibility. To fully be holy, I need to accept others with open arms. I need to connect daily. I need to love fully. For more inspiration, read Pelican Anglican.

God did not make us to be perfect. He made us to be holy, to live into his image. God is love, and so love is the point of human life. And just in case you haven’t noticed, love is messy. God didn’t come to clean up the mess. He came to make it holy. To make it the holy mess he had in mind in the first place.
–Bishop Jake Owensby

Celebrating connections: I posted a full moon photo on Wednesday. My father posted one too, from his home in Mississippi. I wrote a haiku and have placed it over his photo to create a haiga. I learned about haiga from my Poetry Friday friend, Diane Mayr. She posted window haiga this week. Mine is a moon haiga.

Photo by John Gibson. Haiku by Margaret Simon, all rights reserved.

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My Father’s Drawing

Posted in Poetry, Slice of Life, Spiritual Growth, tagged ekphrasis, Illuminate, John Gibson on September 10, 2013| 10 Comments »

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Margaret Gibson Simon and father, John Gibson

I am visiting my parents in Mississippi. My father and I are working on the final touches of our book project. Yes, you heard me…book project. I am excited to announce the publication of Illuminate, a book of poetry and art.

I started writing poems to my father’s Christmas cards in December of 2012. I’ve posted some of the drafts on this blog. My friend Victoria Sullivan at Border Press will be publishing it. The book will be small, about 25 pages. The drawings to me are striking, done in pen and ink pointillism. I hope the book will be ready mid-October in time for Christmas.

In 2008, I wrote my first poem about my father’s art. There is a drawing framed in my bedroom of an American Indian woman with her child, wrapped together in a blanket as though she is shielding her child from all danger. The writing connected me to his art work in a spiritual way. I share this first poem in the preface of Illuminate. Check back in October to order your own copy.

My Father’s Drawing
Dots of ink and graphite rise in tension with paper
to form a likeness of mother and child.
The wild contrast of darks to light plays
in harmony creating a vision of love.

In the meantime, I grew up,
became a woman with children
living away from my father.
His letters come to me in thank you notes.

Yet everyday, I look at this drawing—
the dots of pointillism reach out from the wall
and grant me an audience
with his graceful praise.
–Margaret Simon, all rights reserved

Mother Earth by John Gibson

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Put on your best Antoinette

Posted in Slice of Life, Spiritual Growth, tagged 8 Habits of Love, Antoinette Tuff on August 27, 2013| 8 Comments »

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I have been writing this blog for two and a half years. I usually write Slice of Life stories, poems, or about activities I do with my students. I have tried to keep from making any kind of political statement. But when I heard last week about the bravery of Antoinette Tuff, I decided I had to speak up.

When the tragedy of Sandy Hook happened last December, it touched everyone around the country. Teachers were especially effected as we heard of the sacrifices our colleagues made for their students. We had to ask ourselves what we would do in a similar situation. And in this day of unlimited access to guns along with limited access to mental health care, our fear is a realistic one.

Our school system responded with a new mandate that our classroom doors had to be kept locked. While I understand the reasons, I am not comfortable with the atmosphere it creates. When I walk down the halls and pass all the locked doors, I feel alone, not safe. I miss seeing my colleagues and hearing the voices of active classrooms. Most of all, this response spreads fear, not love, to our students.

When we started inservice training days before this school year, we reviewed the crisis plan. While last year we were told students had to stand against the wall during lockdown, this year they are to lie flat on the floor. While last year we were admonished for leaving any crack in the blinds, now we were told to leave a space so the authorities can look in. In all honesty, nobody really knows what will save us.

Nobody, that is, but Antoinette Tuff. She responded with love, not fear.

He said that no one loved him, and I told him that I loved him and that it was going to be OK. –Antoinette Tuff

I have been writing this summer about Ed Bacon’s 8 Habits of Love. Antoinette Tuff probably has never heard of this book, but she knew that the perpetrator needed to feel loved. And her act of love saved countless lives, as well as the life of the gunman.

We don’t need more guns, more guards at our schools, or training of teachers to carry guns (heaven-forbid). We need more Antoinettes. A woman who reacted with love, not fear or hatred. She spoke bravely and made a personal connection. I pray that we have no more school shootings, but instead of locking my door and barricading it with desks, I hope I can put on my best Antoinette and face adversity with love.

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Community

Posted in Slice of Life, Spiritual Growth, Teaching, tagged 8 Habits of Love, community, Ed Bacon on August 20, 2013| 13 Comments »

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As the school year begins and gains speed, the Habit of Community makes me think of the school community and our classroom communities. Ed Bacon’s book 8 Habits of Love ends with this habit. All seven habits (Generosity, Stillness, Truth, Candor, Play, Forgiveness, and Compassion) lead to this final one. He begins the last chapter with the epigraph from John Donne, “No man is an island, entire of itself.”

Class group hug

The Habit of Community lets us know that we are not, in fact, alone. Each of the other Habits of Love ultimately leads to this most critical, life-affirming habit. –Ed Bacon

Life-affirming, that is the reason, the meaning, of community. We are all in this together. Community is designed to help us through the darkness and to celebrate the light. Tragedies put our communities to the test. In most cases, the Habit of Community saves its loved ones from fear and leads them to healing.

I pray that my classroom community will not be tested by tragedy, but everyday there are failures to be reassured and successes to be celebrated. We have a responsibility to encourage a sense of community so that our students feel safe to be who they are. They learn empathy and generosity by our modeling.

True Community encourages everyone to clarify their own values without having to agree with the group. There are few experiences that bring more energy to the soul than belonging to a durable Community without the pressure of having to agree. –Ed Bacon

One thing that stands out to me about the Habit of Community is that we have to open up ourselves to vulnerability in order for others to connect to us. Recently, a friend’s son had his first child. The baby was born early and had some difficulties. He posted daily on Facebook about the progress of his son and his wife’s recovery. I found myself looking for his updates every day, and I know that the support of all of us reading them helped him get through this difficult time. They are all home now and becoming the family they were meant to be. Somehow, though, I feel blessed from having shared in this journey.

We now have so many more ways to connect with our wider community. If we can use the social media to spread the Habits of Love rather than fear, to encourage the life-light in each person, to be there for each other, we can spread the energy of peace and health to the world. We can inspire change. We can be a community.

I want to take this opportunity to thank the community of Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life Tuesdays. We are all teachers together on a journey to provide the best for our students. We are a supportive, encouraging, and loving community, and I am proud to be a part.

In what ways will you build community in your classroom? A community of belonging, a community of trust, a community of learning?

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Stillness

Posted in Slice of Life, Spiritual Growth, tagged 8 Habits of Love, Ed Bacon, meditation on June 11, 2013| 7 Comments »

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In my series of posts on the “8 Habits of Love” by Ed Bacon, I am responding this week to the second habit, The Habit of Stillness. The above Animoto video features a triolet poem I wrote using lines from William Wordsworth’s poem It is a Beauteous Evening, Calm and Free. The images are used by permission from Dianne Dempsey-Legnon, Dot Gibson, and a drawing by John Gibson.

You may encounter stillness while on your daily commute, while exercising, or while listening to music. You may find it outdoors or indoors, with a much-loved pet or in solitude. Each of us can experiment and find our unique practice of the Habit of Stillness, which is a foundational habit for opening your heart and your mind, allowing you to experience your loved and loving self. —Ed Bacon, 8 Habits of Love

My habit of stillness
is in the morning,
a dog walk with Charlie,
listening to the symphony,
the loud jeer of the jay,
a mournful coo from the dove,
and a chattering of chickadees.
The world is waking up,
And I am waking to it.

Distant train,
the whirr of Saturday mowers
tries to disturb.
Stillness is not still.
My senses awake like resurrection fern after the rain,
sweet scent of magnolia blossoms,
toot tweets of birds. Even the bayou
is not still today,
soft ripples reflect the rising sun
like the twinkle of evening stars.

When I open my mind to the listening,
the singing, the scented air,
I open my heart to the Holy.

Some ideas for Stillness practice:
*If you are traveling in Louisiana and want to stay in a quiet cottage in the historical town of Breaux Bridge, call my friend Jen at Bonne Terre Cottage.

*If you have a few minutes and love puppies, Olive has a new litter to watch: Olive’s Pups, Nursery Cam

What is your Habit of Stillness? How do you find to time to be alone, quiet, and in communion with God?

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