One of our teacher-writer-blogger friends Leigh Anne Eck is on vacation in Florida. Don’t you just love a vacation photo that you can sink your dreams into?
Treasure
found in a sea shell,
an open sky,
a momentwith you.
Margaret Simon, draft
Take a moment to muse about this photo. Write a small poem in the comments. You may share on social media with #ThisPhoto, #poemsofpresence and #smallpoems. Be sure to leave encouraging responses to other writers.
Posted in Photography, Poetry | Tagged #smallpoems #poemsofpresence, #ThisPhoto, beach, Florida, This Photo Wants to be a Poem | 21 Comments »
Finding safe online spaces for writing is invaluable to me as a poet-teacher in a small Louisiana town. During the pandemic shut down of 2020, writing kept me sane and real and present. Sarah J. Donovan, Ph.D. directs the website for teacher-writers at Ethical ELA. She is assistant professor of secondary English education at Oklahoma State University where she turned the writing we did during April 2020 into an oral history project.
With the help of colleagues, each volunteer was interviewed through a Zoom meeting and our contributed poems have been curated into a collection entitled Bridge the Distance, Teacher-Poets Writing to Bridge the Distance: An Oral History of COVID-19 in Poems. You can click the link to read the manuscript or order a hard copy.
I ordered a copy. No one profits from the sale of this anthology; you are paying printing costs only. I wanted to have this collection in hand to read and use with my students as mentor texts.
My contributed poems can be read here:
The Duplex of Virtual Teaching.
Eight Reasons to Take a Walk on Sunday Morning
8. Bells chime a call to worship
to empty pews echoing the song of trees.7. I’m sorry I keep taking the same path,
the same images do not grow weary of me noticing.I pick gardenias from CeCe’s side yard.
If she came out, she wouldn’t mind.6. I stop by Anne’s to view her century plant as it reaches
skyward. A century plant waits 25 years to blooming,
blooming only once in a lifetime. A lifetime
I took for granted only weeks ago.5. I can take my time.
No one will call to check on me.I’ll check the feeders:
the hummingbirds like sweet water.I’ll get to it in time.
4. I walk and walk
wondering if it will always be this way.Hollow bells pealing for no one.
No one venturing out to see anyone.
3. It may rain tomorrow. Today,
the sun shines, the birds sing,
and I don’t have to join the chorus.I’ll keep singing to myself.
2. A link was sent by email
to a video church service, one priest, one reader.The organist plays
as though the cathedral is full.Full feels scary now.
Full carries weight.
Who wants to be full?1. I close this book,
heat another cup of tea,
and find my shoes,
find my way,
fill my day,
and perhaps…Bloom!
Margaret Simon, all rights reserved
Bridge the Distance, 2021
You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!Click here to enter
Posted in Poetry Friday | Tagged Ethical ELA, Oklahoma State University Oral History Project | 35 Comments »
Does anyone feel like summer is quickly going by? I did not, intentionally, make a list of goals for this summer; however, there is that running list in my head of things that are not getting done. So be it, right? Summer is for relaxing and taking each day as it comes.
When I look out of my window, I see this mandevilla vine going wild. It’s stretched beyond the reaches of the trellis. So be it… Let it go. That is what this plant teaches me. (This post is up later because I forgot it was Wednesday, another good sign of summer.)
Summer sun + daily dose of rain = wandering time
Margaret Simon, equation poem
Please add a small poem in the comments. Encourage other writers with positive response.
Posted in Photography, Poetry, Writing | Tagged equation poems, summer, This Photo Wants to be a Poem | 28 Comments »
This being the first Friday of the month, our Sunday night writing group is up to a new challenge, this time from Heidi. Tabatha Yeatts recently posted a poem by Gail Martin. “What Pain Doesn’t Know about Me” makes a great mentor text for writing about nearly anything. Molly used the prompt to cleverly write about frogs!
Heidi added to the challenge to throw in anthimeria. Go ahead and click the link. I didn’t know what it was either, but I’ve likely used the technique before. Anthimeria is converting a noun into a verb, or a verb into a noun and so forth. I had already drafted a poem when I saw this added bonus, so I edited for the effect.
What Grief Doesn’t Know About Me
after Gail Martin
How I go to bed early and rise before the sun.
My duck-feet. How my surface-body is still while I paddle fiercely.
I can count syllables while walking. I lullaby babies.
He’s not taken my singing,
My generations in the South,
My ability to swim in the deep. Tread water indefinitely.
We don’t talk every day. We have coffee together on Mondays.
Now, as I watch my cat bat at a black pen on the kitchen table,
I know not to put my hand in the mix.If you ask me how my day is going, I might cry.
Margaret Simon, draft
To read how others in our group met the challenge:
Catherine Flynn at Reading to the Core
Linda Mitchell at A Word Edgewise
Heidi Mordhorst at My Juicy Little Universe
Molly Hogan at Nix the Comfort Zone
Posted in Poetry Friday, Writing | Tagged anthimeria, Gail Martin, July challenge, mentor text | 16 Comments »
This morning I turned the calendar to July and wondered where my summer is going. Carol invited us to write about Nurturing our Summer Souls for Spiritual Journey first Thursday. I thought I would wake up early and write, but the thing about summer is expectations fall into the sun. I woke up tired. The only thing I can figure is the water aerobics class last night has affected me in more ways than I thought possible. I have welcomed these classes, the time with friends, the cool of the water, and the invigorating feeling of exercise. But this old body is finding muscles that have been dormant. It’s a good thing, right? Remind me.
My summer soul is being nurtured by the National Writing Project’s #WriteAcrossAmerica virtual writing marathon. I’ve participated in three different stops. Each Tuesday a different project site takes on the marathon. This week I went to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, a place foreign to me. The story map is full of places to explore and writing prompts to contemplate. I stopped at the Indian Village Site and followed a link to Margaret Noodin’s Ted Talk.
I’ve been fascinated by Margaret Noodin’s work since listening to Poetry Unbound from On Being. Margaret not only shares my name, but she also sings. She sings her poems in Anishinaabemowin and English. Being Episcopalian, I love a good chant and that is what Margaret Noodin delivers.
As I listened I wrote. This poem follows her words and weaves in my own words as if we became a confluence of thoughts, two rivers meeting and flowing together for a time.
Minowakiing: The Good Land
Languages
teach us of place. In this Good Land,
we can keep ourselves alive,
hearts beating wild, transforming
the world
in a net, networking, working in
interconnection.
I see lessons in light
see a word East
move into melting
transitioning time to place
word to word.Listen to sounds singing of fish
bobbing in the water.
Let’s listen to each other.
Remember we are in a good place.Remember the bird knows,
the grass knows,
the old oak knowsWe inherit the language of our ancestors,
Margaret Simon, with Margaret Noodin
reminded how to find the road, the map
to our own lives.
Here. Together.
Posted in Poetry, Spiritual Growth, Writing | Tagged #WriteAcrossAmerica, Margaret Noodin, Poetry Unbound, spiritual journey | 8 Comments »
Summer is hot, no matter where you live, and the best way to beat the heat is to play in the water. This photo is sure to cool you off. It’s from Lisa Davis’s Instagram feed. Lisa was the site director for the National Writing Project at Northwestern State University in Natchitoches, LA. (pronounced Nak-a-dish) She is currently retired (I think) and enjoying being a grandmother. I couldn’t resist her post of her granddaughter dancing in the sprinkler.
Is it possible
Margaret Simon, draft
to fall in love with a day?
Joy
catches me in its spray!
Add your flash draft of a small poem in the comments. Return to give feedback to others who write. Thanks for stopping by!
Posted in Photography, Poetry, Writing | Tagged Lisa Davis, small poems, summer, This Photo Wants to be a Poem | 38 Comments »
Every summer I look forward to Kate Messner’s Teachers Write virtual writing camp. The first week is this week. Kate invites us to go outside and reflect on a time when we felt fully whole. I went outside and ended up weeding a flower bed. It wasn’t too hot, and for a minute, it wasn’t raining. I had a “clunker” line from Linda Mitchell to work with. “August was long of light.” There was a time when we didn’t start school in August, and it felt like summer would go on and on.
Mississippi Heat Wave
August was long of light
Margaret Simon, draft
in a Mississippi heat wave that summer of ‘72.
On the path to Purple Creek,
my flip-flops kept the stickers away
and mosquitos preferred Missy’s freckle-juice.
Covered in Off and Coppertone, we’d hold hands
to cross the waterfall, tip-toe trickle over a concrete slab.
On the other side was an endless pine forest. We’d walk
the path of dirt bikes, side-stepping ruts in the muddy red clay.
Avoiding under-the-bridge where the smoking kids hung out,
we’d wander to the stables, pick out a favorite horse, pretend they were ours.
Endless summer days
stretched out like a Gulf Coast beach
burned our tender noses,
streaked our blonde hair,
became a backdrop to childhood memories.
Posted in Poetry, Slice of Life, Teachers Write | Tagged August, childhood, Kate Messner, Linda Mitchell, memory, Mississippi, purple creek | 12 Comments »
Today I am posting with the “Poetry Sisters” (Tricia Stohr-Hunt, Sara Lewis Holmes, Kelly Ramsdell, Laura Purdie-Salas, Liz Garton Scanlon, and Andi Sibley) who challenged the Poetry Friday community to write zentangle poems. If you are unfamiliar with this form, check out this post by Kat Apel.
I have done zentangle before but I’ve never been satisfied with the results. I got a card in the mail from Jone MacCulloch along with a plaque print of her amazing collage response for our Spark exchange. Jone’s card inspired me to try again with a mentor to emulate.
This week I received a wonderful summer poem swap gift from Michelle Kogan. Michelle is a watercolor artist in Chicago. She saw posts from me about our wood duck nest boxes and “Jump Day.” I admit to teary eyes when I saw her painting and poem. So special. She sent me a print as well as a homemade notebook with the painting on the cover and poem on the back. I have been writing poems about the wood duck experience and now I have a special place to write them. Thanks. Thanks. Thanks!
I love how Michelle’s poem captures the essence of Joy we feel when we see the ducks jump from their nest box.
Posted in Poetry Friday | Tagged #Poetrypals, Jone MacCulloch, Michelle Kogan, Summer Poetry Swap, Zentangle | 13 Comments »
The summer solstice makes it officially summer. What’s more summery than the ocean? Following Kim Douillard on Instagram takes me to the Pacific Ocean. She lives near San Diego, California. During the school year, she teaches third grade. Her happy place is taking photos at the beach. On her blog, Thinking through my Lens, she writes poetry, shares writing lessons, and posts amazing photographs. Last night I saw this picture which totally took me to a new place. Let’s see if we can make this photo come more alive with poetry offerings. Join me in the comments by writing your own small poem.
How to be an Ocean Wave
Rise up with grit.
Margaret Simon, draft
Roar with spirit.
Open your heart and hands.
Make life grand!
Posted in Photography, Poetry | Tagged California, Kim Douillard, Pacific Ocean, This Photo Wants to be a Poem | 29 Comments »
Last weekend with grandkids in tow, my daughters and I traveled to Mississippi to see my parents. Mom celebrated her 85th birthday on Friday. We had an amazing dinner together, all four generations.
Over at Ethical ELA, it’s Open Write time. Denise Krebs posted a prompt that pushed me to write a poem for my father. Her poem prompt was based on Langston Hughes’s poem I Dream a World.
He Dreams a World
(for my father, John Gibson)He dreamed a world where hope
would be our North Star guide,
a world where we could care,
embrace each other’s side.But dreams read daily news
on print as small as stars.
His weathered hands held fast
so futures could be ours.Today he watches them
Margaret Simon, after Langston Hughes
and wonders where they’ll go,
more treasures to be found
and promises of hope.
Posted in Poetry, Slice of Life | Tagged Artists, Ethical ELA, Generations, John Gibson | 6 Comments »
Our address on the Bayou Teche
Order on Amazon.
April 1 Linda Mitchell at A Word Edgewise
April 2 Tricia at The Miss Rumphius Effect
April 3 Robyn at Life on the Deckle Edge
April 4 Donna Smith at Mainely Write
April 5 Denise at https://mrsdkrebs.edublogs.org/
April 6 Buffy at http://www.buffysilverman.com/blog
April 7 Jone at https://www.jonerushmacculloch.com/
April 8 Janice Scully at Salt City Verse
April 9 Tabatha at https://tabathayeatts.blogspot.com/
April 10 Marcie at Marcie Flinchum Atkins
April 11 Rose at Imagine the Possibilities | Rose's Blog
April 12 Fran Haley at Lit Bits and Pieces
April 13 Cathy Stenquist
April 14 Janet Fagel at Mainly Write
April 15 Carol Varsalona at Beyond LiteracyLink
April 16 Amy Ludwig VanDerwater at The Poem Farm
April 17 Kim Johnson at Common Threads
April 18 Margaret at Reflections on the Teche
April 19 Ramona at Pleasures from the Page
April 20 Mary Lee at A(nother) Year of Reading
April 21 Tanita at TanitasDavis.com
April 22 Patricia Franz
April 23 Ruth at There's No Such Thing as a Godforsaken Town
April 24 Linda Kulp Trout at http://lindakulptrout.blogspot.com
April 25 Heidi Mordhorst at My Juicy Little Universe
April 26 Michelle Kogan at: https://moreart4all.wordpress.com/
April 27 Linda Baie at Teacher Dance
April 28 Pamela Ross at Words in Flight
April 29 Diane Davis at Starting Again in Poetry
April 30 April Halprin Wayland at Teaching Authors
