This Photo Wants to be a Poem | Reflections on the Teche

Archive for the ‘This Photo Wants to be a Poem’ Category

This Photo Wants to be a Poem: Chicken

Posted in Slice of Life, This Photo Wants to be a Poem, tagged cherita, chickens, This Photo Wants to be a Poem on March 20, 2024| 37 Comments »

I wrote a book years ago about a girl who loved a chicken. Her name was Blessen. Blessen still lives in my heart. I don’t know her, but I know her because I created her. Here is a child I don’t know. She is hugging a chicken. I love the image and I borrowed it from Facebook. I don’t have permission to publish it, so please do not take it.

Can you create a character in a poem today? A child who loves chickens or all animals? Who is she? Explore her with a fictional poem. Today I am choosing the form of cherita which is a 6-lined poem broken into 3 stanzas. (stanza 1: one line; stanza 2: 2 lines; stanza 3: 3 lines.) Cherita means story, so the poem should tell a story. An example from Mary Lee is here.

Curly locks and black feathers

hold on to each other–
friend to friend

Cherishing a moment
before the parade
when black feathers will fly.
Margaret Simon, draft

There is a weird tradition here in South Louisiana at Mardi Gras when country folks chase a chicken for a gumbo. It’s a drunken, barbaric affair that I struggle with. Many believe it is harmless fun.

Leave your own poem (cherita or other small poem) in the comments. Give encouraging responses to other writers.

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This Photo Wants to be a Poem: Foggy Sunrise

Posted in This Photo Wants to be a Poem, tagged #haiku, #sunrise, Antoine de Saint-Exupery, Marshall Ramsey on March 13, 2024| 60 Comments »

Sunrise through the fog, photo by Marshall Ramsey.

When winter turns to spring, we often have fog. Fog can be dangerous, but it is also quite beautiful and intriguing. What is really there that we cannot see?

I found this photo on Instagram from Marshall Ramsey who is a cartoonist living in Mississippi. His cartoons are often published in the Clarion-Ledger of Jackson, MS.

I was also intrigued by this quote that Georgia Heard posted.

In my classroom, we collect good and thought-provoking quotes. Quotes can lead us to our own thoughts. Take some time for yourself, the poet in you, to think on all these things: the photo, the quote, what is currently happening in your life. Let’s write together. Post your small poems in the comments, and encourage other writers with your words.

I seek a portal
to new possibility
slow reveal of me
Margaret Simon, draft

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

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This Photo Wants to be a Poem: Swinging High

Posted in being mamére, Photography, Slice of Life, This Photo Wants to be a Poem, tagged Bayou Teche, grandchildren, haiku, swinging on March 6, 2024| 32 Comments »

“Swing me, swing me high!” my granddaughter Stella called to me as I pushed the swing. Our next door neighbors have moved. For as long as we have lived in this house, 19 years, we have shared yard space with our neighbors. They recently moved to be closer to their grandchildren, but they left behind one of my grandchildren’s favorite things, the baby swings. They hang from a strong live oak arm. This photo looks out at Stella, 3, swinging and watching the bayou for boats. Off to the left is our ever faithful grandmother oak. She holds a rope swing that my grandchildren are not yet strong enough to hold onto. They enjoy throwing it back and forth, holding on and falling down.

If I ever need reminding to love my life, I should look upon this photo. I invite you to find where it takes you. Is it back to a past time? Do you have grandchildren or children who love to swing? I haven’t met a child yet that doesn’t love swinging. I recently saw an Instagram post about how swinging helps kids regulate their bodies.

Swinging stimulates different parts of a child’s brain simultaneously. Swinging helps the brain develop skills such as spatial awareness, balance, rhythm, and muscle control. Even a quiet moment on a swing can help a child regulate their sensory system and help them develop the ability to adapt to different sensations.
From Mosaic Health and Rehab

Besides the benefits, swinging is simple, free fun! Write a small poem in the comments. Come back to this post if you can to read other poems and offer your encouraging support. Sign up to follow my blog if you’d like to join this weekly writing prompt.

Set me in motion
Swing me to the highest high
Where I freely fly
Margaret Simon, haiku draft

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This Photo Wants to be a Poem: Full Hunger Moon

Posted in Photography, Poetry, This Photo Wants to be a Poem, Writing, tagged elfchen poetry form, full hungry moon, moon poems on February 28, 2024| 41 Comments »

This photo was posted by Kim Douillard with the comment, “Full moon snowshoeing? Yes, please.” Taken in Mammoth Lakes, CA.

Last week’s full moon was a beauty. I had a tug of envy when I saw Kim’s amazing photo on Facebook. What a capture of the forest trees pointing to full moon. The snow is clean and untouched. I felt a sense of calm and peace, all the while knowing that for the Creator to make snow, it must be cold. But this scene is deceptively warm.

Elfchen have become my go-to form this year. I am attracted to using one word to start a poem, one word to send me out on the slope of where a poem wants to take me. Sometimes I go the way of description, sometimes toward a deeper wisdom. My student has created two words for these kinds of poems, a quotem or a quoem. Quotem is a quote that sounds like a poem. A quoem is a poem that sounds like a quote. I hope you feel inspired to write something, be it quotem or quoem. Share it in the comments and encourage other writers along the way with your responses.

Slope
slides toward
a hungry moon
lighting my way to
Poem
Margaret Simon, elfchen draft

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This Photo Wants to be a Poem: Abstract Art

Posted in Poetry, This Photo Wants to be a Poem, Writing, tagged abstract art, Acadiana Center for the Arts, ekphrastic poetry on February 21, 2024| 8 Comments »

Yesterday afternoon I went to a workshop at the Acadiana Center for the Arts led by my mentor and friend Darrell Bourque. In the large gallery space was the show In Medias Res: How One Story Becomes Another, a collection of paintings from his collection accompanied by the poems he wrote to them. Darrell first introduced me to eckphrastic poetry years ago. This piece of painted canvas was among a pile of canvases in a writing station within the gallery.

The instructions read “Mystory: Turn no to yes”.

I love how the smashing of my and story looks like the word mystery. What mystery is hiding your true story? What story in your life turned a no into a yes?

During the workshop, I received an enticing text invitation to an Argentinian dinner complete with tango lessons. I said yes without even asking my husband. I knew yes would be his answer, too.

Today
we imagine
an eager sunrise
spinning a new story
Tango
daily elfchen, Margaret Simon

What mystery/mystory do you have waiting to expose? What emotions does the abstract painting stir for you? Please leave a small poem in the comments. Remember to write encouraging responses to other writers.

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This Photo Wants to be a Poem: Dragon Float

Posted in Photography, Poetry, This Photo Wants to be a Poem, tagged ekphrasis, Mardi Gras, New Orleans parade, photo prompt, Year of the Dragon on February 14, 2024| 11 Comments »

Mardi Gras Parade on St. Charles in New Orleans

I’ve been in New Orleans since Saturday. I’m on Mardi Gras break from school. And yes, I’ve been to many parades. I love this photo because it was taken at a night parade when all the floats were lit up. This one made me think of Chinese New Year and the Year of the Dragon. My brother-in-law is on the far right in a coat my sister made for him from Crown Royal bags. Costuming at Mardi Gras is over-the-top and so interesting to see. I tend to be more of an observer than participant, but my wheels have been turning about “next year.”

Today is a whole other story: Valentine’s Day and Ash Wednesday. I have a rough draft of something like a poem on this bleary eyed, tired morning. I hope you will join me in musing about the cycle of a year or dragons or parades. Whatever this photo inspires in you. Leave your responses in the comments. Be sure to come back and encourage other writers.

Here we roll again
on the wheel of life,
round the bend
holiday to holiday.
A heart drawn on a post-it note
says “I Love You.”
Ashes on the forehead
remind us of death,
so Live
like the dragon
following its path.
Fire on!
Complete the turn!
Breathe hope for another day
in this parade!
Margaret Simon, draft

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This Photo Wants to be a Poem: Cemetery

Posted in Photography, This Photo Wants to be a Poem, Writing, tagged #TheStaffordChallenge, Billy Collins, Golden Shovel, Kevin Nusser, old cemetery on February 7, 2024| 17 Comments »

Photo credit by Kevin Nusser, “I took the photo while visiting Elijah Bond’s grave in the green mount cemetery in Baltimore MD”

I saw this photo on Facebook in The Stafford Challenge group. I was struck by the way Kevin Nusser caught the sun atop a steeple. This photo mused him to write on an old typewriter. Here is a photo of his poem.

I often think about how poetry begets more poetry. Billy Collins points this out in his poem “The Trouble with Poetry”. Can you find inspiration in the photo, the words? Perhaps steal a line and write a golden shovel. I believe the world can never have too much poetry.

How many times will we
face death, wonder who are
the ones we’ll lose? If I’m lucky, I won’t lose all
my people before I go. As long as living
keeps you here, I won’t have to carry our
losses alone. I can live a wild life.
Margaret Simon, draft

Please join me and write. If you choose, share your draft in the comments. Please leave encouraging responses to others.

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This Photo Wants to be a Poem: Willow Tree

Posted in Photography, Poetry, This Photo Wants to be a Poem, Writing, tagged daily elfchen, Juan German, sunrise, Syracuse NY on January 31, 2024| 63 Comments »

Photo by Juan German, provided by Janet Fagal. East side Onondaga Lake in Syracuse, N.Y. 2002.

Today’s photo is obviously more professional than the ones I usually post from my own iPhone. Janet Fagel sent this photo from a photographer friend. Such a rich photo to focus on. Being in New York, it is most likely sunrise. I see some paw prints in the snow. The tree’s shape is intriguing. What will you find here?

I’m still on my elfchen a day kick, but feel free to write any small poem form (or free verse) that comes to you. The important thing is to write and share and respond.

Willow
unburdened, bent
leans to light
reaching for its offer
Life
Margaret Simon, draft

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This Photo Wants to be a Poem: Wonder

Posted in This Photo Wants to be a Poem, Writing, tagged #beingmamére, Baton Rouge Children's Museum, Ethical ELA, Naani poem form on January 24, 2024| 46 Comments »

Thomas at the Baton Rouge Children’s Museum

My three daughters made a last minute plan to meet at the Children’s Museum. They sent pictures, and I fell in love with this one with the paper butterflies (I first thought they were cranes) and Thomas looking up. He’s 4 years old, the age of wonder. Find a small poem or story in this photo and write it into the comments. Be sure to leave encouraging responses to other writers.

Today on Ethical ELA Leilya teaches us about the Naani form originating from India, an expression of one and all in 4 lines of 20-25 syllables.

Paper butterflies
flutter through a wind
of imagination–
a child’s vision of wonder.
Margaret Simon, draft (Naani)

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This Photo Wants to be a Poem: Safe Star Temple

Posted in Gratitude, Photography, Poetry, This Photo Wants to be a Poem, Writing, tagged #poemsofpresence, #small poems, ekphrasis, elfchen poetry form, Star Temple Baptist Church on January 17, 2024| 26 Comments »

Star Temple Baptist Church, Jefferson Island Road

I have driven past this church for 16 years. It resides on the same country road as one of my schools. On the left is a small cemetery. Sometime this year I noticed a carpenter I know (I’ve nicknamed him Saint because he is selfless and kind.) doing work on this church. I assume it is an active congregation, but for me, it is the safe haven for our school’s safety plan in case we have to evacuate. We would meet a bus here that would take us to a high school down the road. Does this little building know its job? I’ve been wanting to take this photo for a long time and finally stopped last week. Notice the crooked stop sign, the high cirrus clouds, the simple steeple. Where does your mind go? Please write a small poem today and share it in the comments. Kindly respond to other writers.

I found out about the Stafford Challenge yesterday on Barb Elder’s blog post. I signed up. There is a Zoom gathering tonight with Kim Stafford. I had the pleasure of writing with Kim years ago at a writing marathon. His father William Stafford inspires writers everywhere to practice a daily poem. Whether you join or not, I think this is a good commitment to daily writing.

I continue to play with the elfchen (elevenie) form.