acrostic | Reflections on the Teche

Posts Tagged ‘acrostic’

Poetry Friday: Summer Poem Swap

Posted in Poetry Friday, Writing, tagged #smallpoems, acrostic, Denise Krebs, One Little Word, raccontino, Summer Poetry Swap on September 19, 2025| 13 Comments »

Poetry Friday is hosted today by Jama at Jama’s Alphabet Soup.

I have been comforted by all of the sympathy notes and messages from this Poetry Friday community over the death of my mother this summer. I appreciate more than ever how this community supports and cares for each other.

In the summer poem swap, organized by Tabatha Yeatts, Denise Krebs sent me two poems, a raccontino and an acrostic of my one little word, Still. She also sent a beautiful crocheted twirly that I’ve hung in my kitchen window.

My response to Denise:

When a poem comes
wrapped in swirls of gold
and tied with a ribbon,
I open,
find,
feel myself
touching soft grass
with my toes
finding cool comfort
there.

Thanks, Denise, for your comforting words and gift of swirly gold.

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Slice of Life: Name Acrostic Best and Worst

Posted in Poetry, Writing, tagged acrostic, Ethical ELA, name acrostic on November 19, 2024| 5 Comments »

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

Today I am envious of all the hype leading up to NCTE because I won’t be going for the first time in ten years. I hope all of you who are attending have a wonderful conference and send out some ELA love into the universe.

This morning Emily led the Ethical ELA Open Write with an invitation to write an acrostic about the best and the worst of yourself. I usually avoid looking too closely in the mirror for fear of what I might see. And of course, I have a long name with repeated letters that added an even harder challenge, but this is what I got in the wee dark hours of the morning.

At my best,

Mood smooth like malbec wine
A steady
Rock you can lean on
Grounded in my faith
Alert to nature
Ready for a long talk
Empathetic with my tears
Trust me with your pain.

At my worst,

Moody
Arrogantly
Reserved
Guarding my soul
Assailed by doubt
Reactive
Enneagram four evading reality
Torturing myself…

But I’ll always love you with intensity.

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This Photo Wants to be a Poem: Cold Front

Posted in This Photo Wants to be a Poem, tagged #writeout, acrostic, Amy Ludwig Vanderwater, dahlias, seasons on October 16, 2024| 14 Comments »

Bringing in the Dahlias by Amy Ludwig VanDerwater

The air turned cool overnight. The cats are hunkered next to the door. My friend in upstate New York, Amy Ludwig VanDerwater, posted a photo of a basket of dahlias. She gathered them to place in a vase since the cold front would surely wilt them.

We wait and wait for the air to turn cool. Then when it does, we gather flowers, fruit, caterpillars to save. Yesterday I released 3 new monarchs into the air. Today they are blown south by the cold front. Seasons change. Sometimes gradually. Sometimes suddenly. Write a small poem today about this changing time. What does it mean to you?

This week is the first week of the National Writing Project Write Out, so if you can, go outside. Let nature speak to you. Catch a poem.

Daisy’s cousin
Asteraceae family name
Heat loving plants
Light of morning sun
Invite them inside
A guest for the dining table
Margaret Simon, draft

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Poetry Friday: Anything

Posted in Poetry Friday, tagged acrostic, Jane Hirshfield on May 10, 2024| 14 Comments »

Linda Mitchell is gathering posts with another fun clunker exchange.

A friend of mine suggested I listen to a podcast with Jane Hirshfield. It was a lovely hour. Even though I split it between multiple shorter listens, I want to go back and listen straight through. You can find it on Spotify on the Ezra Klein Show.

I write a poem-a-day, but honestly, I don’t always write a good, shareable poem each day. This week the only one I somewhat like is an acrostic to a Jane Hirshfield quote. One of my students found a Mary Englebright quote “It’s just a bad day. Not a bad life.” I’m applying that to my poetry writing. “It’s just a bad poem. Not a bad poet.” I like Linda’s idea of exchanging clunkers. Maybe some of my starts and fits will bloom on another page. For today, it’s Anything.

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Spiritual Journey: Gathering Goodness

Posted in Poetry, Slice of Life, Spiritual Growth, tagged acrostic, azaleas, OLW, peace, tradition on March 7, 2024| 15 Comments »

Spiritual Journey posts for this first Thursday of March are gathered by Ramona at Pleasures from the Page.

Easter, 1972
I’m quite sure my brother was hiding a peace sign behind my head.

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.
James 1:17

When I was growing up, the front of our home was lined with pink azaleas. We would pose every year (or so it seemed) for an Easter photo near the bouquets of pink. Today my small town heralds an Azalea Trail. March is the time for azaleas to pop. The blooming is fleeting, though. They’ll be gone in two weeks. My One Little Word for 2024 is Peace. Here’s a gathering of goodness for Peace and pink azaleas.

Peeping pink azaleas
Emerge on this March day
A reliable blossom
Carries
Easter tradition
Margaret Simon, draft acrostic 2024

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Poetry Friday: Let’s Talk about Prompts

Posted in Creativity, Gifted Education, Poetry Friday, Teaching, Writing, tagged #100DaysofNotebooking, #TheStaffordChallenge, acrostic, concrete poems, Laura Shovan, student poems, washi tape on February 9, 2024| 16 Comments »

Carol Varsalona is gathering poets today at Beyond Literacy Link.

Where do your prompts come from? Are you inspired to write without them or do you need a little push? Inspiration? Motivation?

I’ve been participating in The Stafford Challenge as well as Laura Shovan’s 12th Annual February Challenge, so I should not complain about needing or wanting a prompt for writing. My complaint, I suppose, is that there are too many prompts, too many things to write about. How do I choose the one? Not to mention, how do I keep up with it all?

I am lucky to be teaching ELA to different groups of children. We begin each class time with notebook writing. My students are loving this quiet, sacred writing time. I recently bought a collection of washi tapes and throw them out on the table for their use. My students are making color-coded pages, drawing, and writing, and embracing their creativity. They inspire me every day.

My student Sadie inspired this notebook poem. She came in singing. My heart drawing became a love poem I didn’t know was inside of me. The surprise of writing is addictive.

Dreams in my heart fly over the waves crashing onto the shore of your love. I am yours. You hold me like sea glass, soft and crystal, a gem, a gift from a broken world.
Margaret Simon, draft

Here is a page from Marifaye’s notebook. I marvel at her patience to write in two colors. She loves writing acrostics. Her notebook pages are beautifully created. She inspires me. She inspires her classmates. Maybe she will inspire you.

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Bonkers over Bandicoots

Posted in Poetry Friday, Teaching, Writing, tagged acrostic, Animoto, Australian mammal, bandicoots, student poems, Wonderopolis on January 9, 2015| 10 Comments »

Find more Poetry Friday at Tabatha’s blog, The Opposite of Indifference.

Do you know what a bandicoot is? I didn’t. Neither did my students. We looked at bandicoots for the Wonder of the Week. After we read the page, watched the video, talked about the words, my new little first grader announced, “Now we write a POEM!” After only a few months he knows how my teaching flows. So, of course we did.

One of my colleagues found the poem Benjamin Bandicoot by A.B. “Banjo” Paterson.

If you walk in the bush at night,
In the wonderful silence deep,
By the flickering lantern light
When the birds are all asleep
You may catch a sight of old Skinny-go-root,
Otherwise Benjamin Bandicoot. (Read complete poem here.)

I asked my students to use alliteration in their titles and use at least 3 facts in their poems. I wrote, too, and settled for the acrostic form. It took me all day to write. Acrostics are not as easy as they look.

Busy
Australian marsupial
Nesting in a pile of leaves
Darkness cloaks
Insects are a delectable snack.
Creature with a ratty tail
Outback wanderer
Over land forager
Terrified of a bush fire,
Busy Bandicoot skedaddles.

Kielan worked more than a day on her poem and even created an Animoto video with it. I love her title, Banjo Boomsnicker Bandicoot.

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Be Amazed

Posted in Digital Learning, Gifted Education, Poetry Friday, Teaching, tagged A Maze Me, acrostic, Eye of the Storm, Kate Messner, Naomi Shihab Nye on December 19, 2014| 9 Comments »

Find more Poetry Friday at Buffy’s Blog.

My students have been working on book talks this week. Some of them wrote poems about their books. Tyler reviewed Eye of the Storm by Kate Messner. He wrote the following poem as an acrostic with the word storm. One student’s response, “I like how you included the theme in your poem.”

Saving lives from disaster
Taking risks
Only to see a surprising face
Revenge is never the answer
More and more problems appearing

–Tyler

Kielan reviewed Naomi Shihab Nye’s poetry book A Maze Me. Kielan said she selected the background and theme of her Animoto because it reflected the dreamy tone of the poem “Necklace.” This is the kind of poem that stays with you. “Can Monday be a porch?”