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National Poetry Month Day 1

Posted in Poetry, Poetry Friday, Writing, tagged #imagepoems, NaPoWriMo, National Poetry Month, Poem a Day on April 1, 2016| 17 Comments »

#imagepoems Day 1 image

Today is April 1st and April Fool’s Day. I have fooled myself into thinking I can write a poem every day in April to an image. This first image was a joke played on me when I entered the bathroom at Ann Taylor Loft. “Watch out for the mannequins.” I was warned. I imagined they had wisdom to share. I also tried to play with the “in” sound. (Note: If you are playing along with me, put your poem or a link to it in the comments.)

Wisdom of the Mannequins

Appreciate the bare skin of things.

Sometimes it pays to be a skinflint.

Stand up straight and let your hips glide.

Don’t underestimate the power of a soft brush of blush.

Listen with a tinted ear.

You want to fit in the skin you’re in.

Bend, blend, and be happy.

–Margaret Simon

Poetry Friday round-up with Amy at The Poem Farm.

The Progressive poem begins at Laura’s site: Writing the World for Kids.

Jessica Bigi is joining in the poem-a-day image poems with this taste of spring today:

Moonbeam crowns
Embroidered bumblebee gowns
Brassy trumpet jazz
Teacup gardens steeping
Sweet is spring’s song
Spades Queens Kings

–Jessica Bigi

Art by Jessica Bigi

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SOL16: #31 Bold

Posted in Poetry, Slice of Life, Writing, tagged April, image poems, NaPoWriMo, National Poetry Month on March 31, 2016| 14 Comments »

Join the Two Writing Teachers blog for March Slice of Life Challenge.

Join the Spiritual Thursday round up at Reading, Teaching, Learning.

Today is the last day of March. I find it hard to believe that I have actually written a blog post every day in March. The Slice of Life Challenge is just that, a challenge. Thank you for reading and responding.

Appropriately for this day, Spiritual Thursday’s one little word is Donna Smith’s word BOLD. Being bold is what it takes to put yourself and your life out there for the world to see.

So here I am thinking about continuing a bold move toward the month of April. April is National Poetry Month. What should I do but write a poem a day? I’ve posted my blog here at NaPoWriMo and committed to the challenge. I will be writing poems to images. #imagepoems

Would you consider joining me? No pressure. No rules. Just drafting and playing with words inspired by images. You can use your own images or write about mine. If I get my act together, I may post the next day’s image in the post.

I draw inspiration from other brave writers like Elisabeth Ellington. She wrote a two word poem about her son yesterday. Read the post here.

This is my bold statement about the Slice of Life Challenge in a two word list poem.

I’m here
this page
torn out
left open
for you
a slice
of life
nothing special
ordinary days
my story
your story
we connect
ideas flow
ideas stop
one moment
in time
leads to
friends talking
laughing with
crying with
loving with
each other
Slices done
bold words
left here
for you
and me.

Image for April Fool’s Day:

I was shopping in Ann Taylor Loft. This is what I found in the bathroom.

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SOL16: #30 My Father’s Studio

Posted in Gratitude, Slice of Life, Writing, tagged art, John Gibson, pointillism on March 30, 2016| 14 Comments »

Join the Two Writing Teachers blog for March Slice of Life Challenge.

For Easter weekend I visited my parents in Mississippi. I am so grateful that they are doing so well. My father still draws upstairs in his studio every day. My father’s art is pointillism. The images are created by dots on the page. Last year he was on a medication that kept him from being able to hold his pen steady. He didn’t know if he’d ever be able to draw again.

Now he is preparing a set of drawings for a gallery show in May. Each one takes at least a month to complete. I admire his perseverance and his talent.

Focus, patience, and a steady hand are necessary for this style of drawing.

In 2013 in honor of my father’s 80th birthday, I published a book of his Christmas card drawings alongside my original poems. The book is Illuminate and is still available on Amazon.

My father’s studio looks out at this view of the lake. He is currently drawing the tree that hovers near this window. Trees are his favorite subject. “Beautiful and complicated and challenging.”

This drawing hangs in the hallway near the studio. The chiaroscuro (play of dark and light) is prevalent in this drawing.

My father is not a famous artist. He doesn’t sell many of his drawings and when he does, they are modestly priced. That is not why he draws. His art is as necessary to him as air, an intimate part of his being in this world. Drawing dots is his meditation and his communication. I am blessed to be a witness to its beauty.

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SOL16: #29 Porch Sitting

Posted in Slice of Life, Writing on March 29, 2016| 10 Comments »

Join the Two Writing Teachers blog for March Slice of Life Challenge.

Porch sitting

Porch sitting
alone or with family
refreshes a tired mind.

Listen to the trickle of water
from the fountain,
the calls of fishermen in the distance.

Turtles on the bank
sunbathe, while Pop
tells us they are gathering oxygen.

I gather oxygen here, too,
and find the questions of
life easier to bear.
–Margaret Simon

Spring on the lake.

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SOL16: #26 Celebrating Home

Posted in Celebration Saturday, Slice of Life, Writing, tagged home, New Castle Lake on March 26, 2016| 12 Comments »

Join the Two Writing Teachers blog for March Slice of Life Challenge.

I came to the lake
weary, ready for rest.
The sun made its final
bow below the horizon
while Mom served bean soup,
warm bread, red wine.

Home finds me
and wraps me in its welcoming embrace.

In the morning, fresh coffee,
mallard couple in the front yard.
“Are they lost?” Dad asks.
Mom recalls they cleared the wooded space
where they must’ve nested last year.

“Pancakes?” Mom asks
with a grin in her voice.
She knows how I love them.

I am a mother of grown daughters,
well in my 50’s and yet,
I am still a daughter,
nurtured and loved.
I am home.

Ruth Ayres invites us the celebrate each week. Click over to her site Discover. Play. Build. to read more celebrations.

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SOL16 #24 Shine!

Posted in Photography, Slice of Life, Spiritual Growth, Writing on March 24, 2016| 17 Comments »

Join the Two Writing Teachers blog for March Slice of Life Challenge.

Join the Spiritual Thursday round up at Reading, Teaching, Learning.

Today the Spiritual Thursday group is writing about Doraine’s word, Shine. Dori is a poet and blogs at Dori Reads. In the spirit of Dori’s poetry, I wrote two haiku inspired by images of light.

Sunrise field created in Painteresque

The sun
never fails to shine
like my heart that opens to
shine for you.

Lake Martin sunset by Sandra Sarr.

Shine
The echo of light
calling amidst the darkness
See me.

–Margaret Simon

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SOL16 #22 I Could Write about…

Posted in Slice of Life, Writing, tagged writing on March 22, 2016| 10 Comments »

Join the Two Writing Teachers blog for March Slice of Life Challenge.

The day has come that I don’t know what to write about. It happens to all of us who are committed to this SOL challenge. In my classroom, students are writing posts about why they hate the SOL challenge. Among the top reasons is not knowing what to write about. Vannisa wrote, “When I’m thinking about what to write, I’m always thinking about if I should really write about it or if it’s sol-worthy.”

I totally understand this dilemma. Not only am I committed to writing a blog post every day, I have that little bird on my shoulder tweeting about the ~~worthiness~~ unworthiness of my writing. Why can’t he just leave me alone? I assure my students that we all go through this. I actually love watching them struggle through because they can be very creative while doing it.

Did I just write that? If my students become creative when they struggle through the dreaded writer’s blog, then shouldn’t I, too?

I could be writing about my sweet blogging-slice-of-life-best friend Julianne and how she traveled all the way from L.A. to see me and visit my class, and how my kids already knew her name from our class connections. Oh, and how we talked and laughed and the time was sooo short.

Me on the left with Charlie and Julianne enjoying the bayou breeze.

You can meet a little slice of Julianne on her blog here. She’s traveling to help her daughter select a college for next year. This is a difficult time. We all want what is best for our kids, but they themselves ultimately need to make the decision. Julianne wisely knows from having two older children that no decision is forever. Still, I hope I provided a safe haven for them on their travels.

When I first connected with the Two Writing Teachers and their March SOL Challenge, I had no idea that it would lead me to such good and lasting friendships. Julianne is a prize. I don’t care about any of the other prizes from the challenge. I have already won.

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SOL16: #18 Writing is like Praying

Posted in Poetry, Poetry Friday, Slice of Life, Spiritual Growth, Writing, tagged broken, nature, Sister Helen Prejean on March 18, 2016| 22 Comments »

Join the Two Writing Teachers blog for March Slice of Life Challenge.

Poetry Friday round-up with Robyn Hood Black.

Writing is like praying, because you stop all other activities, descend into silence, and listen patiently to the depths of your soul, waiting for true words to come. When they do, you thank God because you know the words are a gift, and you write them down as honestly and cleanly as you can.

– Helen Prejean C.S.J.

Broken Pottery by Sweet Tea

Broken
shards of unwanted
clay, rock, soil
litter the ground.

There, unharmed, her hidden heart–
once protected by
earth mother, soft and dark,
now bravely

open like the flowers
in an abandoned field,
reaching for light.

–Margaret Simon

When you open yourself to the world, it will reveal itself to you. I opened two different emails. The first from Laura Shovan. She sent me the Sister Helen Prejean quote. A gift of a gift.

The second was Tabatha Yeatts’ blog post here. This image of the broken pottery grabbed me, and I opened the note on my computer and composed this poem. I know it comes from my heart that aches for a child whose home is not as it should be. Yet she is exactly who she should be, open and kind and full of joy. This broken pot. Her full heart. My attention.

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SOL16 #17: Simplify

Posted in Slice of Life, Spiritual Growth, Writing, tagged bridal wreath flowers, OLW, simplify on March 17, 2016| 8 Comments »

Join the Two Writing Teachers blog for March Slice of Life Challenge.

I’ve been thinking a lot about Jesus Christ lately. In the past two weeks, I saw “Jesus Christ Superstar” at a local performance theater twice. Even though I continually had to tell myself that the man on stage was really Billy (I’ve known him since he was in elementary school), I couldn’t help but feel the presence of Jesus. Not Jesus a savior, but Jesus as a man. A person who had very complicated feelings. A person who had a calling to do something that was out of the ordinary.

Today, for Spiritual Thursday, we are writing about Linda Kulp’s OLW, Simplify. I look to this image of Jesus as a man. I look at the flowers blooming in my yard. Nothing is simple. God’s call is simply “Love.” Yet there is nothing simple about it.

The bridal wreath is so beautiful, white and simple, yet close-up you can see the complicated pattern of tiny blossoms in a cluster. Even nature isn’t simple.

Bridal wreath flowers

What can I do to Simplify?

I can let go of senseless worry. I can look for ways to show love every day. I can pray “Abba” with my breath.

I can also realize that beauty and love are not always simple. I can accept that answering God’s call isn’t an easy task, and I can look to Jesus to show me how.

Join the Spiritual Thursday round up at Reading, Teaching, Learning.

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SOL16: #10 Wait, Wait

Posted in Poetry, Writing, tagged God's presence, Spiritual poetry, wait on March 10, 2016| 17 Comments »

Join the Two Writing Teachers blog for March Slice of Life Challenge.

Wait!

He said, “Wait here!”

Then he took a walk

just a short walk

into the garden

to talk

with the one who sent him,

the one with him always.

They didn’t wait.

They slept.

They couldn’t even stay awake for a moment.

When has he asked you to wait?

When did you need time to sort things out?

When did you sleep? Forget?

And yet, every time, he comes back to you,

holds out his hand to you,

Forgives,

Loves,

Waits

for you.

–Margaret Simon

Reflection: This Spiritual Thursday post is reflecting on Holly Mueller’s One Little Word, Wait. I didn’t want to write about wait. I’ve recently had to wait through an injury, wait for healing to come. The healing has come but slowly. In the meantime, I had to be patient and understand that I could not be who I wanted to be while I was healing. Some days, many days, I had to stop and rest. I needed to wait. But I was frustrated; I didn’t want to stay here. In the moment I wrote the word wait, I imagined Jesus’s request of his disciples in the garden of Gethsemane to wait while he prayed. I realize that I can wait. And, like Mary Oliver, I will be blessed even if all I do is stand right here.

Join the Spiritual Thursday round up at Reading, Teaching, Learning.

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