Reflections on the Teche

Slice of Life: Allan Wolf is Back!

December 9, 2025 by margaretsmn

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

At the beginning of November, our local Bayou Teche Museum hosted Allan Wolf who wrote two books based on a disaster that happened on Jefferson Island in 1980. I posted about his presentation and books here.

Allan had school visits planned for New Orleans and Lafayette, so he worked into his schedule another day. He wanted to further interview people concerning the disaster. He stayed with us on Friday night.

Early Saturday morning I woke up to a text from Allan that he was staying through lunch to be able to meet once again with Mike Richard, the owner of Rip Van Winkle Gardens at Jefferson Island. I joined him on this venture.

When we walked into the gift shop, we were struck by a display of Allan’s graphic novel. While there a woman walked up and bought the book, an impromptu signing.

Allan Wolf signs “The Vanishing of Lake Peigneur” for Mona in the gift shop of Rip Van Winkle Gardens.

Mike led us out to view the lake and then into the bustling restaurant. We had gumbo and enjoyed hearing Mike’s stories about the geography of the lake and salt mine that is still bubbling in places due to trapped gases.

It was fun to be a bystander listening to Allan and Mike talk and talk. I am fascinated by their fascination. Even though the books are published, Allan can’t stop digging into the story.

Mike Richard, owner of Rip Van Winkle Gardens, and Allan Wolf, author of The Vanishing of Lake Peigneur.

On the 45th anniversary of the mine disaster, Myrna Romero was interviewed by a local TV station, KATC. Here is that quick interview.

https://www.katc.com/iberia-parish/memories-from-the-mine-reflections-on-the-jefferson-island-disaster

Posted in Slice of Life, Writing | Tagged Allan Wolf, Jefferson Island, Lake Peigneur, Mike Richard, Myrna Romero | 8 Comments »

Spiritual Thursday and Poetry Friday: Advent

December 4, 2025 by margaretsmn

Spiritual Journey posts are gathered by Jone MacCulloch

Poetry Friday is gathered this week by Irene Latham at Live Your Poem.

Advent is here! Our priest announced last Sunday, “Happy New Year” because the Episcopal liturgical year begins with Advent. Jone inspired us to write about the Advent words- hope, peace, joy, and love.

For Spiritual Thursday, I offer an image poem for each word of advent.

If you are interested in joining the Spiritual Journey posts each month and hosting one month, fill in this Google sheet or send me an email.

For the first Poetry Friday each month, the Inklings do a challenge. This month Heidi asked us to write a letter to an article of clothing. Last year, I bought a cozy robe at the L.L. Bean store in Maine. The weather has turned dreary and cold here this week, so my robe is doing its job keeping me warm. I didn’t write a letter, though. I took an idea from fellow Inkling Molly Hogan to write a Wordle haiku with the three words I guessed today. If you haven’t done Thursday’s puzzle yet, you can come back later.

Blue plush peace fleece
a strip of fake fur cuff
Tulip in winter.

To see how other Inklings did the challenge, check out their posts.

Heidi
Catherine
Molly
Mary Lee
Linda

Posted in Poetry Friday, Spiritual Growth, Writing | Tagged #wordlepoem, advent, Inklings challenge, spiritual journey | 18 Comments »

This Photo Wants to be a Poem: Denver Mural

December 3, 2025 by margaretsmn

Last week in Denver I took pictures of murals. They were everywhere. Today for this photo I chose this beauty.

Georgia Heard offers a monthly prompt calendar. Today’s prompt is to write 5 small things you are grateful for. After a very full Thanksgiving weekend, I am enjoying the silence of this cold morning.

Morning quiet
Warm poodle on my lap
Fog on the bayou
Sleep
Writing

In gratitude, I offer this small poem. Please consider writing your own small poem in the comments. Encourage other writers with your responses.

In her silent reverie,
she doesn’t notice
the squirrel on the ground
lifting a tiny petal
she dropped,
joining her in gratitude.

Margaret Simon, draft

Posted in Gratitude, Photography, Poetry, This Photo Wants to be a Poem, Travel, Writing | Tagged #poemsofpresence, #smallpoems, Georgia Heard, This Photo Wants to be a Poem | 5 Comments »

This Photo Wants to Be Grateful

November 27, 2025 by margaretsmn

Crocheted tree wrap on the streets of Denver

I am happily home and cozy after being in Denver for a week of busy (NCTE) and, after Jeff came, walking. We clocked over 20,000 steps on Monday.

Today I am taking a day off before my family comes for Friday Thanksgiving. I wanted to take this opportunity to thank the poetry community, so wonderfully kind and generous. Some of you I hugged and talked to at NCTE. Others of you stop by this blog and give support through comments. Reflections on the Teche (pronounced Tesh) is my happy place because of you, my readers.

Today’s photo is a crochet-wrapped tree. I’m using a free verse form today following a prompt from Joyce Sidman after her book Dear Acorn, Love, Oak: a compliment, a question, and a wish.

A Tree that Grows in Denver
Single crochet,
double crochet,
cluster-hills & valleys,
green, pink, purple
blooming round
a tree that juts from concrete.
Your colors give warmth
when times are tough.
Will you twirl with me?
I hope your dancing colors
fill the gloom with bright
like a vine that’s lost control
and only seeks the light.
(Margaret Simon, draft)

Poetry Friday will be gathered at Buffy Silverman’s blog.

If you are feeling the muse of this photo, leave a poem draft in the comments. Support other writers with your responses.

Posted in Blogging, Photography, Poetry, Poetry Friday, This Photo Wants to be a Poem, Writing | Tagged #imagepoems, #poemsofpresence, Denver street art, free verse poem, Joyce Sidman, letter poem, This Photo Wants to be a Poem | 19 Comments »

Slice of Life: NCTE and Denver

November 25, 2025 by margaretsmn

Dear Readers,

I am writing this post from a historical B&B in downtown Denver. I’m still here after a whirlwind weekend at NCTE. Have you ever gone to a conference in a new-to-you city and never had the chance to see the city?

On Sunday Jeff flew in, and I switched from conference mode to vacation mode. Yesterday we walked over 20,000 steps in Denver, an exploration that included murals, food, coffee shops, a bookstore, and a Japanese knife store. The weather was perfect for walking.

While I was attending NCTE “Dream Boldly”, I was worried that I wouldn’t find sessions that spoke to me as a retired teacher; however, I look back in my notebook and realize that I am still a Writer.

In a session with wonderful poets Georgia Heard, Joyce Sidman, and Rebecca Kai Dotlich, we were given prompts and time to write.

Joyce Sidman has an amazing new book, “Dear Acorn, Love Oak”, and she used a simple formula from her book to lead us into writing our own letter poem: Write to an inanimate object, Dear ____, including a compliment, a question, and a wish.

I loved how this prompt could work with any age group, and the participants shared some wonderful responses. Here’s mine:

Dear Black Bic Pen,
Your ink is flowing nicely today, with only a few blotches here and there. Do you like writing poems, being my muse? I wonder if you’d rather be pink and scented like a rose. I wish I could write poems with you. Can you whisper a line or two?
Love, Writer’s Block

Not only did NCTE fill my writer’s cup, it also filled my soul. My husband calls it “hobnobbing with my fellow wizards”. I was in the company of many wizards who, after 20 years of attending this conference, are now friends. Lots of hugs, conversations, and laughs.

Posted in Slice of Life, Travel, Writing | Tagged Denver murals, Joyce Sidman, NCTE25 | 12 Comments »

This Photo Wants to be a Poem: Elusive Egret

November 19, 2025 by margaretsmn

Egret across the bayou, photo by Margaret Simon

Early morning is prime fishing time for egrets and herons on the bayou. It is rare that I can get a photo. I have to walk lightly and hope Albert doesn’t bark. This was a lucky shot.

I will be presenting at NCTE this week. In the roundtable presentation with Ethical ELA (3:30 on Friday, Rm. 108, 110), I will be discussing creating Zeno zines. A Zeno poem is one in which the syllable count is 8, 4, 2, 1, 4, 2, 1, 4, 2, 1. The challenge is each one syllable line rhymes.

This Photo is a place for first drafts. Please consider joining me and writing a poem draft in the comments. Support other writers with your comments.

Morning is bayou fishing time
flashy bright white
egret
shines
reminding me
how love
dines
on memory,
sacred signs.
(Margaret Simon, draft)

Posted in Photography, Poetry, This Photo Wants to be a Poem, Writing | Tagged #bayoulife, #bayouteche, egret, zeno | 24 Comments »

Slice of Life: Grandson Kenning

November 18, 2025 by margaretsmn

The December Open Write at Ethical ELA was hosted by Mo Daley. She introduced me to a new poem form that was really fun to write, a kenning. A kenning uses two word phrases to describe someone or something. Mo asked us to think of gratitude at this time of year. Her post (with lots of fun response poems) is here.

The kenning is supposed to be a riddle, so the title should not give away the topic. But I am giving it away with the title of my post as well as a photo of the cutest baby ever. Sam’s sister has nicknamed him “Lammy” which is short for “Sammy-Lamby-Ding-Dong.”

Number 5 Caboose

He’s a
toothless grinner
sniff-snorter
milk-spitter
diaper-wetter
perfume magnet
pumpkin-carrot
Lambi-lambi
Ding-Dong
cuddle-coaxing
daytime napping
love absorbing
new cousin

Posted in being mamére, Gratitude, Slice of Life, Writing | Tagged Ethical ELA, kenning poem | 11 Comments »

Poetry Friday: Poem to Remind Myself

November 14, 2025 by margaretsmn

The Poetry Friday Roundup today is with Carol at The Apples in my Orchard.

A quick post this morning as I dash off to teach 5th graders at The Hilliard Museum. The museums in Lafayette are hosting 5th graders this month, and I have the privilege of doing the creative writing portion of their tour. It’s fun to be teaching again.

Susan Thomsen challenged poet-teacher folks to write after Donika Kelly’s poem “Poem to Remind Myself of the Natural Order of Things.” The challenge was to write about a popular viral video, but I went rogue and wrote a poem to remind myself why I retired.

This was a quick draft in the early pre-dawn hour.

Poem to Remind Myself of the Reason I Retired
after Donika Kelly

Observe the sun rise
over the bayou where water
evaporates into a misty cloud.

Open the door to the scent
of sweet olive and look
for a chickadee nest.

Call your daughter
while she drives to work.
She has time to talk honestly
without background kid noise.
She speaks the words,
“I love you.”

O Margaret, you are still yourself.

Margaret Simon, draft

Posted in Poetry Friday, Writing | Tagged Donika Kelly, Retirement | 19 Comments »

Slice of Life: 11/11

November 11, 2025 by margaretsmn

This one is dedicated to my father, who would be 92 today. He died at 88 on 4/22/22. He loved double numbers. He was born on 11/11/33 before this day became Veterans Day, but he loved that his birthday became such an important holiday. He was proud to be a veteran, but more than that, he was proud of his two older brothers who fought in WWII and Vietnam. My father never had to go into war.

I imagine him today, not in the deathbed (that memory lasted too long in my brain), but as he would sit in his chair every morning and read the paper, exclaiming every few minutes or so about some injustice that he would read aloud to my mother. He loved to hate politics.

My husband Jeff is like him in this. Jeff reads news on a tablet and laughs out loud until I ask him what’s so funny. He enjoys modern day memes and comics that play on human idiosyncrasies. He also reads aloud other news that he feels may interest me. “You may be interested to know…”

I have my father with me always in his artwork. He was a black and white pointillist artist. I look at his drawings and swoon at the idea that his fingers touched each dot on the paper.

Heron, pen and ink pointillism by John Gibson.

There is a progress/pattern to grief. At first, it was soul gripping and traumatic. Now that Mom is gone, too, I feel more at peace and filled with a kind of longing for them that is nostalgic. Dad in his chair reading the news. Mom with her coffee (always black) doing a crossword.

Today on Dad’s birthday and Veterans Day, I am warm and happy that I had a loving home.

Posted in Gratitude, Slice of Life, Writing | Tagged grief, John Gibson, parents, Veterans | 15 Comments »

Poetry Friday: Inklings Challenge

November 7, 2025 by margaretsmn

Poetry Friday is being gathered today by Laura Purdie Salas.

It’s the first Friday of the month and time for the Inklings Challenge. This month’s prompt is from Linda Mitchell who challenged us to respond to Ethical ELA’s September 2025 Open Write by Kelsey Bigelow: “What is the happiest thing you’ve ever tasted?”

This was a lucky break for me because I already had a draft written, so with my Inklings thoughtful comments, I revised and have a poem to offer today.

My husband was born and raised in Cajun country where they ask, “Who’s your mama? Are you catholic? And can you make a roux?”

I don’t have to learn to make a roux because when it comes time to make a gumbo, Jeff is the best! Just last weekend when the air finally turned cool enough, he made the first gumbo of the season. Around here, when the cold front comes in, the weather man announces, “It’s gumbo weather!”

For our family, Black Friday is the day for making turkey and sausage gumbo. This year we may skip the Thanksgiving and go straight to the gumbo. Making gumbo takes two days. On the first day, you make the stock and the next day combine the stock with the roux. It’s a slow process. It takes patience and dedication.

Black Friday Gumbo

The happiest thing I’ve ever tasted
is your gumbo,
A slow stew on Thanksgiving night
in a stock pot of left-over turkey bones,
the trinity of bell pepper, onions, and celery.

Scented steam perfumes the kitchen.
Friday morning chill is heated by oil and flour
you stir for what seems like an hour
waiting for the brown of peanut butter.

Hunched and humming, listening to the game,
you stand taller
and hand me a spoon to taste.
Our love is certain in this simple touch

of lips to wooden spoon.
That first sip tingles on the back of my throat
like our first kiss, longing and true.

Margaret Simon, draft

To see how other Inklings approached this prompt:

Mary Lee
Linda
Heidi
Catherine
Molly