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#NPM2018: Dark Clouds

Posted in Poetry, Writing, tagged ekphrastic poetry, John Gibson on April 2, 2018| 9 Comments »

National Poetry Month 2018

Dark Clouds by John Gibson

I fade as light
brightens maple leaves
before they fall
to soft ground below.

Branches overshadow me
grip my confidence
and shun me.

I land without sound
without notice
without glee.

–Margaret Simon, (c) 2018

From Poem Crazy by Susan Goldsmith Wooldridge: “Writing poems using images can create an experience allowing others to feel what we feel. Perhaps more important, poems can put us in touch with our own often buried or unexpected feelings.”

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Slice Challenge #31: Celebrating Easter

Posted in Celebration Saturday, Poetry, Slice of Life, Spiritual Growth, Writing, tagged Good Friday, Mary Oliver, meditation, prayer on March 31, 2018| 15 Comments »

Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life March Challenge

Find more celebration posts at Ruth’s blog.

Holy Week always brings up for me a mixture of feelings. I feel a call to silent contemplation. Years ago I offered a Good Friday meditation. It originally came out of a prayer vigil from Maundy Thursday to Easter Sunday. I had signed up for the 6 AM time slot and was moved by the rising of the sun as I sat alone in the quiet church. We don’t have a vigil anymore, but the idea of sitting in quiet meditation early in the morning of Good Friday is still something I want to experience and share.

With four of us in the sanctuary, I read aloud Mary Oliver’s poem “I Happened to be Standing.” Mary Oliver is a favorite poet of mine. I love how simple and profound her poems are. I searched for this one. I remembered how it looked on the page, but I didn’t remember the title or which book it was published in. I located five of her books around my home, none of them placed together. Finally, A Thousand Mornings sang to me from the living room shelf, and there it was in all its humble glory.

I Happened to Be Standing

I don't know where prayers go,
     or what they do.
Do cats pray, while they sleep
     half-asleep in the sun?
Does the opossum pray as it
     crosses the street?
The sunflowers? The old black oak
     growing older every year?
I know I can walk through the world,
     along the shore or under the trees,
with my mind filled with things
     of little importance, in full
self-attendance. A condition I can't really
     call being alive
Is a prayer a gift, or a petition,
     or does it matter?
(Read and listen to the complete poem here.)

As I sat, I recalled Psalm 22 from the Maundy Thursday stripping of the altar. I wanted to respond to this psalm with my own psalm. I wrote:

Deus, Deus meus

My God, my God, why have you forgiven me?
The toll of the cardinal song
echoes You are my child.

Long ago, I carried a child in my own womb
felt her heart beat with mine,
felt the soft body roll inside.

Is this how you love me, God?

I held the hand of his father
as he passed into your light.
I let go of his quiet strength.

Is this how you love me, God?

When I think on these things,
I can know kindness.
I can hear stillness in the noise.
I can feel love in the bird’s song.

When you are near me, God,
My soul lives for you.

–Margaret Simon (c) 2018

Happy, Happy Easter! May you find joy in the quiet and love in the sounds of the birds!

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Slice Challenge #27: March Heart Map

Posted in Slice of Life, Writing, tagged art journal on March 27, 2018| 12 Comments »

Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life March Challenge

I started an art journal in January (a slice about it here) and decided to select a color for each month (March is yellow) and to collage a heart map for each month. Yesterday with some free spring break time I completed my heart map for March.

Perusing magazines is part of the fun. Cutting and pasting can be creative, relaxing work. This map captures snippets of March including Slice of Life blogging, our Plein Air guest artists, and Saturday’s march. Some messages are hidden, like the popping out sticky note “South Louisiana.” It’s hiding the title of my forthcoming poetry book. Still working on proofs. Cover reveal coming soon!

On Twitter, Leigh Anne posted this:

My table was not as covered as hers, but I took a few snippets for a quick poem in my art journal.

I’m still working with the line The Shadow Defines the Light. I’m trying it out in different poems. Sometimes you just find a great line. Copy, paste, make it yours.

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Slice Challenge #25: Marching

Posted in Writing on March 25, 2018| 21 Comments »

Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life March Challenge

Yesterday I joined March for our Lives in Lafayette, LA. It did not even come close to the numbers marching in other places. I would estimate 200 or so people. The message was clear, and the march was a peaceful walk around the park. We chatted with people we knew. We cheered for the kids who bravely stood and spoke on stage.

On the advice of fellow slicer, Elisabeth Ellington, I listened to an On Being podcast with Naomi Shihab Nye. She suggests writing three lines every day. The three lines I wrote in my notebook yesterday:

The violence of our times is unacceptable.
My faith tells me that the answer is love.
Not everyone is going to accept me. I need to accept this.

As I watched the video of kids speaking in DC and beyond, Emma Gonzales, Naomi Wadler, and Georgia VanDerwater, I was moved to tears. How could I be afraid when these kids were so brave?

As a teacher, I am afraid to stay quiet. I cannot stand by and watch young children frisked with a metal detector. I cannot stand by and accept teachers being armed. These actions are band-aids to a problem our politicians are afraid to address, gun regulations and the lack of mental health care.

Band-aids are being placed on a broken system, a system with empty counselors’ offices, a system without adequate response to children in trauma, a system stripped of the arts. Long term solutions are available if we are only willing to fight for them.

I will carry a sign. I will not carry a gun.

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Slice Challenge #24: Dear Spring Break

Posted in Slice of Life, Writing, tagged letter, spring break on March 24, 2018| 19 Comments »

Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life March Challenge

Dear Spring Break,
I am celebrating your arrival today.
You have entered my life like a soothing breeze.
When the birds call, I will be here to listen.
I will take long walks with Charlie. (First sight of the leash, and he is ready to go!)
I promise to read a book in your honor
and share it with my students when we return.
I hope you will invite me outside to explore.
I’d love to have lunch with a friend.
I promise to practice my ukulele, cook dinner more than once, and crochet in prayerful meditation.
But most of all, I promise to be grateful for every quiet moment you give me because I know that April and May are slippery slopes to summer.
Thanks for coming, spring break, you are a welcomed guest.
With love,
Margaret

Find more celebration posts at Ruth’s blog.

I borrowed this writing idea from Michelle Haseltine at One Grateful Teacher.

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Slice Challenge #23: Golden Shovels and Chalkabration

Posted in Poetry, Poetry Friday, Slice of Life, Teaching, Writing on March 23, 2018| 20 Comments »

Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life March Challenge

Poetry Friday round-up is with Laura at Writing the World for Kids.

This month’s Ditty Challenge on Michelle Barnes’ site is from Nikki Grimes. Nikki Grimes has made the golden shovel an infamous poetry form. I shared her book, One Last Word, with my students. Michelle worked with boys in a juvenile detention center. She posted Lil Fijjii’s poem blurred lines. This poem spoke to my students. They could relate to the strong emotion. To write golden shovel poems, each student chose a line to respond to. At first Faith placed her head in her hands. “This is too hard. I can’t do it.” I set the timer and said, “Just give it a shot.”

My students were pleased with the results. I’ve posted them on Michelle’s padlet. Scroll for Students from Mrs. Simon’s Class.

Spring is in the air here in South Louisiana and no one wants to stay inside, so I took my kids out for a chalkabration. View their poems in this slide show.

chalkabration

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Slice Challenge #21: First Day of Spring

Posted in Poetry, Slice of Life, Teaching, Writing, tagged Church of the Epiphany, collaborative poem, rhyming couplets, spring, The Heavenly Choir on March 21, 2018| 10 Comments »

Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life March Challenge

Inspired by Violet Nesdoly’s blog post Welcome Spring, my students and I wrote a collaborative poem about spring.

At first, I talked about the spring equinox and how it’s related to the rotation of the earth (to get in a little science content). Then I opened a blank document on the screen. Jayden said, “I hope we are going to write a poem. I love when we write poems.” My heart swelled.

We read it aloud to hear the beat. We rearranged stanzas. Landon suggested that we end the poem at night with fireflies.

First Day of Spring

by Jasmine, Kaia, Landon, Jayden

(edited by Mrs. Simon)

Happiness everywhere.
Let’s go to the Spring fair.

Easter is near.
Wind tickles my ear.

Green grass growing.
Dad lawn mowing.

Mom is cleaning.
I am dreaming.

Cherry blossoms blooming.
Sun’s light booming.

Bees buzz.
Dandelion fuzz.

When daylight ends,
fireflies descend.

On Sunday, our choir held an Evensong service. My fellow choir member and friend, Brenda, recorded the service. There were only 9 of us, but we made a joyful noise. Here, she put one of our hymns on YouTube. Enjoy Benedictus, one of my favorites. I sing alto. Listen for me.

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Slice Challenge #20: Paint Chip Poetry

Posted in Writing on March 19, 2018| 14 Comments »

Paint chip poetry took me on a journey to a place far away.

With my students, I randomly grabbed a paint chip. On the back of each paint chip I had written an unrelated word. The instructions included using the given word, the color, and the color name in a poem of any form.

When my selected paint chip gave me “Oceanside” and “traverse”, I wrote a septercet. A septercet is 3 lines of seven syllables each. Jane Yolen created the form. Learn more about this form on Today’s Little Ditty.

Ocean liner traverses

Waves along the deep blue sea

Opening horizons far.

–Margaret Simon

With my second group, I chose the paint chip “Blue Nile” with the word “periwinkle.”

I wrote another poem with them, but soon saw how they could be combined into one poem.

Ocean liner traverses
waves on periwinkle seas
opening horizons far.

Come with me to River Nile.
Touch the shores with tender toes.
Dream an impossible dream.

–Margaret Simon

Jasmine doesn’t often choose to write with us and even more seldom shares what she writes, but today was different. This exercise worked for her. The given words and colors allowed her to express something hidden deep within. Poetry is like that.

My Friend, Out of Reach

My friend, out of reach
Periwinkle, the color of her hair
Her eyes, sparkling blue Nile
Out of place, she is in this cruel world
Different sides of the river
We can never cross
For she is my friend, out of reach.

Jasmine, 6th grade

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Slice Challenge #19: The Aurorean

Posted in Poetry, Slice of Life, Writing, tagged the Aurorean on March 19, 2018| 7 Comments »

Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life March Challenge

I’ve had a poem accepted for publication in the journal, the Aurorean. My poem is titled, “Aubade to a Tulip.” The journal is currently taking pre-orders at this link.

Years ago I submitted to the Aurorean and was published in the Fall/ Winter 2009-2010 issue with the following poem.

December 27th: Putting the Old Dog Down

On this cloudy humid morning I watch
a great blue heron swoop toward the bayou.
He jumps in like a child in summer,
emerges with the catch of the day.
Standing on the bulkhead, he swallows
the fish whole, looks left then right,
rises–his blue wing-tips all the bluer.

Fog lifts over the road to the vet’s office.
Wrapped in a shred of flannel sheet,
I hold her close, look into eyes of trust
while the poison needles in.
I let her go.

The camellia’s first blossoms blanket
the lawn in pink, resurrection fern fans the air.

Margaret Simon (c) 2010

I am grateful to the Aurorean’s editor Cynthia Brackett-Vincent for placing her trust in me as a poet and once again giving wings to one of my poems.

Bayou Teche blue heron, photo by Margaret Simon

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Slice Challenge #18: On Being an Introvert

Posted in Slice of Life, Writing, tagged introverts, Myers-Briggs on March 18, 2018| 25 Comments »

Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life March Challenge

Years ago I took the Myers-Briggs test for personality analysis. It did not tell me anything I didn’t already know internally. I am an introvert. I have fought against this part of myself all my life. I’ve tried to attend the party, the parade, the picnic, but I never really understood why I would leave exhausted.

Now that I’m in my 50’s it’s time to realize that my basic personality is not going to change. It’s time to embrace the introvert in me. On Facebook this morning, someone posted this article. The article explained that, as an introvert, I have different needs. That I may feel like I have to hide those needs. Nail on head! Duh! How long have I been fighting against my own “needs”?

As the time gets nearer to spring break, my mind is revolting. I am craving time alone. Time alone is not only a luxury, however, it is one of my basic needs. I need to walk alone in the woods. I need to sit with a book and read. I need to watch the sunset.

Another of the 12 points listed that resonated with me was #8: A deeper purpose to their work.

I attended the regional SCBWI conference on Saturday. This morning I am trying to process why the business of finding an agent and marketing your work is unsettling to me. Why did that particular presentation leave me feeling defeated and hopeless? Because I need a deeper purpose for my work. That’s it.

When one of the presenters asked us to write down a purpose statement about why we write for children, I wrote, Children fill my world every day. I love being with them. I love watching them grow into who they are meant to be. I want to be a part of their world. I can be there with my words.

This post is one of those writing-to-discover-what-you-think posts. Maybe that needs to be added to the list of needs for the introvert. Writing is a way to clear the cobwebs to find the root of my thinking. Today, that root is being an introvert.

Introverts are not wrong.

We are different.

Embrace this difference.

Be confident in who you are.

I am sending this message to myself today and any other introverts out there.

I’m OK. You’re OK.