Reflections on the Teche

#ClimatePoemProject #AuthorsTakeAction2023: Things to Do Poem

April 8, 2023 by margaretsmn

To celebrate National Poetry Month, #AuthorsTakeAction2023 is organizing a community poetry project for kids.

Children’s poets and authors from all over the country are offering poetry prompts and inviting teachers and children to write poems on the topic of climate change.

You can find all the prompts at the Authors Take Action website.

My poem prompt is a Things to Do Poem. This is a form I used in my book Bayou Song: Exploration of the South Louisiana Landscape. The alligator snapping turtle is not endangered as far as I know, but it is a celebrated Louisiana critter.

To begin, select a bird or animal that is endangered in your area. I did a Google search for my state “Endangered animals in Louisiana.” I was amazed to find out that Kemp’s Ridley sea turtles had hatched near New Orleans. And I also thought they were very cute to draw.

My friend Julie Burchstead sent me instructions for a crayon resist art project.

With a pencil, draw your chosen bird or animal on watercolor paper. Create a contour drawing with no shading. It will look like a coloring book page.

2. After drawing, outline the pencil lines in Sharpie marker. (The marker must be permanent or the ink will smear.)

3. Color with crayon or Cray-pas. Julie says, “Note: The crayon must be applied darkly (thick). If it is too light, there will not be enough wax to resist the wash, and the crayon work will be lost. Any areas that must remain white, must be colored white with crayon. ”

4. Using watercolor paint, select a single color of paint. Pool a few drops of clean water into the chosen color with a wide brush. (Do not use the skinny one that comes with the kit.) Wash (spread) the paint over the whole image. Where there is crayon, the wax will resist the paint.

5. Create a list poem using action words to begin each phrase. You may personify your chosen animal.

**Things to Do if You’re a Kemp’s Ridley Sea Turtle**

Hatch for the first time in 75 years.
Crawl toward the ocean.
Leave tracks in sand for researchers to find.
Return to your nest on the Chandeleur Islands.
Find a protected sanctuary.
Restore hope in Louisiana’s wetlands.
*by Margaret Simon*

Here are a few student examples:

Things to do if you’re an Eagle

Fly in the air.
Attack little fish.
Snag on meat.
Glide over the ocean.
Soar over 10,000 feet!
Symbolize our nation.
by Brayden, 3rd grade

Things to Do if You’re a Grasshopper Sparrow

Land on a fingertip.
Eat earthworms, snails, and spiders.
Let your wings soar on the ground.
Carry on with the wind.
Find a sanctuary of protection.

by Avalyn, 3rd grade

Posted in Poetry, Writing | Tagged #AuthorsTakeAction, #ClimatePoemProject, crayon resist art, endangered animals, Things to Do Poem | 5 Comments »

Poetry Friday and Progressive Poem are Here!

April 6, 2023 by margaretsmn

Today I am juggling many hats. First, I am hosting the blog roundup for Poetry Friday. If you participate, the link up will be at the end of this post. 2. I have the next line for the annual Kidlit Progressive Poem (gentle hand-off from Donna who is wearing many hats of her own lately). 3. It’s the first Friday of the month which means a challenge from an Inkling (our writing group’s cute nickname).

The Kidlit Progressive Poem is the dream-child of Irene Latham. I am carrying the torch these days which means I round up all the volunteer writers and send them a reminder if they forget. Not a terrible job, really. So far, it all seems to come together in an amazing poem by the end of the month. You can follow the progression by clicking on the links on the side bar. Six days of April means six lines. I feel like I’m cheating because the line came to me immediately. Repetition is good in a poem and so are similes. Here is the poem with my line added in italics.

Suddenly everything fell into place
like raindrops hitting soil and sinking in.

When morning first poked me, I’d wished it away
my mind in the mist, muddled, confused.

Was this a dream, or reality, rousing my response?
The sun surged, urging me to join in its rising,

Rising like a crystal ball reflecting on morning dew.

The Inkling challenge this month comes from Mary Lee Hahn. She decided to choose random words as a prompt for a poem. The words were knuckle, denial, turn, cautious.

Molly Hogan, fellow Inkling, and I are using a calendar grid for National Poetry Month. Here’s a copy of our calendar which you are welcome to use if you need ideas. I chose to write a Fib poem, a form that uses the Fibonacci Series for syllable counts: 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8. (I just realized I didn’t repeat the one syllable line. Fudge it. Too late to revise now.)

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!Click here to enter

Posted in Poetry Friday, Progressive poem, Writing | Tagged fibonacci poem, Inklings challenge, Progressive poem | 41 Comments »

Spiritual Journey: Maundy Thursday

April 6, 2023 by margaretsmn

This month’s Spiritual Journey gathering is with Ruth at There is no Such Thing as Godforsaken Town

On Palm Sunday we sang an anthem in the choir “Lamb of God” by Twila Paris, choral setting by Lloyd Larson. In practice before church, I made the same mistake twice. (For this recording I think I finally said it correctly: I’m the alto voice you hear.)

My choir known as the Heavenly Choir at the Church of the Epiphany, April 2, 2023. “Lamb of God”

The lyrics include “I was so lost, I should have died, but you have brought me to your side to be led by your staff and rod and to become a lamb of God.” I kept mindlessly saying held by your staff and rod. After making this same mistake a third time, I wondered why my mind replaced led with held.

My spiritual journey has been long now. I tuned into my Episcopal upbringing while I was in high school. I attended youth retreats and memorized the words to “Let There be Peace on Earth and Let it Begin with Me.” Even at age 15 I felt the weight of the world on my shoulders.

Over the last decade or so, our larger national church has been controversial. Things have settled a bit, but I am hurt by the numbers of people who have left our church over issues of equality. Where was their faith? In the Baptismal Covenant we agree to “respect the dignity of every human being.”

In my spiritual journey, I am Held by God in dignity with grace that is freely given, given because I was simply born. Amazing, really. Traditionally on Maundy Thursday, we have a foot washing ceremony at the evening service. I imagine what it would have felt like to have Jesus wash my feet.

Footwashing

He held my foot
as cradling an infant
with tender touch
caressed a cloth
over and under soiled skin
I should have been embarrassed
but I felt no shame. only love.
Margaret Simon, draft

The Kidlit Progressive Poem is with Donna Smith today. It will be here tomorrow for Good Friday/ Poetry Friday.

Posted in Poetry, Spiritual Growth, Writing | Tagged Church of the Epiphany, Lamb of God, Spiritual poetry, The Heavenly Choir | 11 Comments »

This Photo Wants to be a Poem: Shadows

April 5, 2023 by margaretsmn

For National Poetry Month, Molly Hogan and I committed to a flexible schedule of writing different forms of poetry, but I insisted on a weekly space for writing to a photograph. While out on my walks these days, I may open the Notes app and hit the microphone to dictate a poem. Yesterday while I walked, I contemplated the Ethical ELA prompt from Jennifer Jowett to write from an ungrammatical stance making nouns into verbs. See her prompt here. I observed the trees along my path, and spoke the words, “When I tree.” Then I saw the shadows from an overhead street light. Shadows are intriguing. I took this photo.

Broken Dawn

When I tree,
bayou-bell’s song echoes in me.
Yellow twinkle of sweet olive scents
my breath. Legs ache
from last night’s climb.
Turn to eastern broken dawn.
Margaret Simon, draft

Please leave a small poem in the comments and respond to other writers with encouraging words. Are you poeming daily this month? Here is a safe place to play with words.

The Progressive Poem is with Rose Cappelli today at Imagine the Possibilities.

Posted in Photography, Poetry, This Photo Wants to be a Poem, Writing | Tagged #smallpoems #poemsofpresence, NPM 2023, This Photo Wants to be a Poem | 63 Comments »

NPM 2023: Haiku Sonnet

April 4, 2023 by margaretsmn

A little over a year ago, my grandson Leo, who was not quite 3 at the time, had a conversation with my daughter. He was sleepy and seemed to be recalling a dream about being bitten by a monster.

“He was sleeping,” recalled Leo.

“And he woke up and bit you?” Maggie inquired.

“Yeah, and it was bleedin’,” Leo said. Then he smiled and said, “You love bleedin?”

“Do I love bleedin’?” Maggie asked in a soothing voice.

“That’s rearry scary! And you might cry, too.”

The words “You love bleedin'” have remained since in our unofficial book of family lore.

Yesterday I had to go have a yearly blood test. Not my favorite thing, but I made it through, and the nurse was as nice as could be, but on the way to school, I thought about the Ethical ELA prompt. Stacey Joy had a wonderful post with links to beautiful words she encouraged us to try. I abandoned that part of the prompt and focused on creating a haiku sonnet in my notes app. Sometimes you just have to say what you want to say. And bleedin’ was on my brain.

Bleeding on the Page

I worry I can’t
do what other poets do
bleeding with deep love.

I gave blood today
opening my elbow for
piercing, dark red flow.

A tiny bruise dot
reminds me I’m human–
Blood tells a story.

Hemmingway says write,
it’s easy, open your veins
Bleed the words that flow.

So here I am sharing
my bloodsong with you.
Margaret Simon, #verselove 2023

Today’s post is part of the ongoing Tuesday Slice of Life Story Challenge at
Two Writing Teachers.

The Progressive Poem is with Buffy Silverman today.

Posted in Poetry, Slice of Life, Writing | Tagged being mamére, Ethical ELA, haiku sonnet | 5 Comments »

NPM 2023: Cherita

April 3, 2023 by margaretsmn

Does a poem ever wake you up in the morning, in that liminal space between sleep and awake? I had to get up an hour before I usually do to make sure I captured it.

My mother-in-law whom I wrote about yesterday refuses to write her memoir. She’s written five books now, three mystery novels based on stories from her days as a District Judge, and two historical fiction books. She asked me “What should I write next?” I emphatically said “Your memoir.” Yesterday she looked at me and turned the proverbial key on her lips meaning her lips are sealed. There are some things I already know. She grew up in New Jersey, went to Wellesley then to Yale Law School where she met my father-in-law and moved to Louisiana with him, a shocking move for her parents to grasp.

Mary Lee is writing cherita poems this month. “Cherita is the Malay word for story or tale. A cherita consists of a single stanza of a one-line verse, followed by a two-line verse, and then finishing with a three-line verse…The cherita tells a story.”

Storytelling is about healing the heart and mind.

It enables us to remember and not forget those who went before us, and also of those who loved or hurt us with their words and deeds. The recording, both oral and written, and sharing of stories is age-old. When we start to write, we bring to life the lost words of yesterday – from just a few moments ago to the time of our ancestors huddled around a roaring fire in some smoky cave of all our beginnings.

Be the storyteller and healer you are meant to be. Make us laugh, cry and be entranced by six lines of your words.

Storytelling is oxygen for the soul.
From th e cherita.com

The Progressive Poem is with Tabatha today. Follow along here.

Posted in Poetry | Tagged Anne L. Simon, cherita, NPM 2023 | 3 Comments »

NPM 2023: Morning Blogger

April 2, 2023 by margaretsmn

The Kidlit Progressive Poem is with Heidi Mordhorst today. Watch as the magic unfolds with each line. Yesterday Mary Lee landed us solid on the end of a story and Heidi has added a bit of rain. Tomorrow Tabatha will take us a step further. but not too far because we have many miles to go before we sleep.

Molly Hogan and I are working through our self-created challenge to write a poem each day. We thought a calendar without dates, more like a Bingo card, would give our writing some kind of structure with freedom. I am a morning blogger. Last night I went to a Cajun Fais Do Do put on by The Books Along the Teche Literary Festival. I danced, and danced, and danced. Feet tired and head spinning, there was no way I could have produced a post, let alone a poem last night. So I left it alone, this space blank until this morning.

Lately I’ve been listening again to Joni Mitchell. Her songs defined my college days (my husband and I saw her in an intimate concert more than 40 years ago) and when I listen now, I hear the pure poetry and smooth soprano of her voice. I am skipping down the grid a few “weeks” and writing from a song.

The lyrics for A Case of You led me to write about my 91 year-old mother-in-law. She’s an incredible woman whom I admire beyond the stars.

In the Light

for Anne Lennan Simon

I’m a lonely writer.
I live on a clean white page.
I’m frightened by my own grief.
And I’m drawn to those who age.

I remember when you told me,
you said, “You are a deep griever.”
Surely you know grief like mine
‘Cause a part of you is a part of me
in these words I try to find.

You’re in my soul like dandelions.
You’re my longed for wish.
You’re so pretty and so wise,
beauty and wisdom are yours.
I want to be like you, and
Still be in the light.
And still be in the light.
Margaret Simon, after Joni Mitchell “A Case of You”

Anne Simon with artist-poet Melissa Bonin at a recent party for LEH (Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities).
Her son, my husband Jeff is in the background.

Posted in Poetry, Progressive poem, Writing | Tagged Anne L. Simon, Joni Mitchell, NPM 2023, Writing from song lyrics | 11 Comments »

National Poetry Month 2023:

April 1, 2023 by margaretsmn

A collaborative calendar for NPM with Molly Hogan.

Happy National Poetry Month! I’m excited (and a little anxious) to start a new blog journey today. Last month I wrote a post every day in March for the annual Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life Challenge. You’d think after 31 straight days, I’d be ready to stop. But the practice of writing gets better and in many ways easier the more you do it. I am joining a community of teachers, poets, and bloggers who commit to National Poetry Month.

For starters, take a look at the first line of this year’s Kidlit Progressive Poem with Mary Lee today. She is setting us off on a long road to an amazing collaborative feat, 30 days, 30 poets, 30 lines.

Suleika Jaouad has an email newsletter, The Isolation Journals, in which she prompted “The Open Palm.”

Your prompt for the week:

Close your eyes, and slowly trace the outline of your non-dominant hand on a blank page. Take your time. Pay attention to the physical sensations. The sound of pen on page. The feel of paper against palm, pen between fingers. Surrender any illusions of control. Any attempt at getting it “right” or “perfect.”

Write a creative intention inside your palm. Around it, begin writing things that will invite you back to your practice—encouraging words, activities that inspire you, different ways of approaching your intention, small steps to get you closer to your goal.

Outside the hand: Allow yourself to daydream about what lies ahead. Write about where your intention could bring you. What it could help you discover. Record any new revelations and realizations, dreams or ideas that you want to carry forward.

Reflect on what happened in your mind and in your body at each step of the process, and how that awareness can guide your creative path.

Suleika Jaouad

This open palm feels like my opening up to this new month of writing daily, the practice of being open to what flows, without judgement, discovering the creativity that already lives in me. Thanks for being here. This haibun is from a prompt at VerseLove at Ethical ELA. I decided to abandon grammar rules and Flow.

Write, Just Write

Write fast she says without judgement keep the pen moving
across the page you can do this with one hand tied behind
your back standing on one leg let the flamingo in you blush
with delight until the timer stops ticking then rest breathe in
the feeling of success of soulsearching of secrets revealed
in your own abandon you are in charge here Be Be Be who
you want to be embrace her for she is yours forever.

Find a soft place
to land your soft body
sing yourself home.
Margaret Simon, draft

Posted in Poetry, Progressive poem, Writing | Tagged #verselove, Ethical ELA, haibun, NPM 2023, The Isolation Journals | 2 Comments »

Poetry Friday Last Day of March Slice of Life Challenge

March 31, 2023 by margaretsmn

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

Poetry Friday is hosted today by Mary Lee at A(nother) Year of Writing

Whew! We made it to the last day of March. I wrote on this blog space for 31 straight days. I’m feeling a little bit proud that I made this commitment and accomplished it for the 10th year. If you read any of my posts, thank you. My readers and responders keep me going, keep me writing.

National Poetry Month begins tomorrow (no April Fools). The Progressive Poem calendar is full and lives in the side bar. Mary Lee will start us off tomorrow with the first line. She is also hosting today, so pop over and bookmark her site, A(nother) Year of Rea d ing.

Molly Hogan and I have collaborated on a calendar-chart of choices for our National Poetry Month writing. We intentionally did not include dates so we can see how the spirit moves and have some choice about the poems we write. If you wish to play along, we made a Canva calendar (not calendar).

The Poetry Sisters challenge this month was an etheree poem. An etheree is a poetry form that begins with one syllable in the first line and continues growing each line by a syllable until the tenth line has ten syllables. I looked back into my notebook to find this found etheree from an Ash Wednesday sermon from my priest, Annie Etheredge. (I just noticed how close her last name is to etheree.) Her sermon began with a poetic description of a blue bird nesting.

Nesting Box

soul
nesting
we could watch
mama bluebird
being a bluebird
collecting tiny twigs
flashing her royal colors
you see a fragile little frame
she pushed an egg out of her body
with a great flourish of her azure wings
Margaret Simon, found poem from Annie Etheredge’s Ash Wednesday sermon

If you have special plans for National Poetry Month, let me know. I’d love to follow along.

Photo by Hal Moran on Pexels.com

Posted in Poetry Friday, Writing | Tagged #Poetrypals, Etheree, National Poetry Month 2023 | 22 Comments »

Slice of Life Challenge Day 30: It is Good

March 30, 2023 by margaretsmn

Thirty days of writing every day. Has it all been good? When my students ask me that question, I try to find something specific to say. “Look at this imagery you included. I can see a picture in my mind.”

Yesterday, my new little first grader was writing a poem to This Photo. He kept wanting to use words like pretty and nice, and I pushed him to specific description. “Why is it pretty? What is nice about it?”

What is good? The Lord looked at all creation and called it “Good.” Why?

Today my Enneathought begged the question “What is good?”

EnneaThought® for the Day

Type Four EnneaThought®

Today, see if you can do the opposite of your ordinary personality pattern. Acknowledge the many ways in which your life and relationships are good. See what happens.
The Enneagram Institute

Here’s my draft-list of good relationships: