Posted in Poetry, Slice of Life, tagged azaleas, haiku on March 12, 2013| 5 Comments »
Azaleas in my front yard
Sunday night it rained all night. And I slept poorly between the gutters clanking and my storm-scared dog barking. But when I drove home from school on Monday afteroon, the sun was shining, the breeze was blowing, and the azaleas were bright all over town. I think this calls for a spring haiku.
Azaleas popping
sun-drenched pinkness bounces on
green bushy balloons.
Posted in Poetry Friday, Slice of Life, tagged haiku on March 8, 2013| 15 Comments »
Hop on over to My Juicy Little Universe for more Poetry Friday delights.
My students are participating in the Classroom Slice of Life Challenge at Two Writing Teachers. They are writing like crazy. It makes this writing teacher so happy.
For 6 years, I have been teaching gifted elementary students. To be able to teach them all in a day, I have to mix grade levels. I have always enjoyed the richness this adds to my class. Sometimes I feel like a juggler when I have 3 different spelling tests to give, but, for the most part, the students mix well and learn a lot from each other. The class is fluid, too, because as the year goes on, I may get new students as they are identified. This year, Vannisa joined one of my groups. She is in third grade and had never written a haiku. What better time to try than in the SOLC. This week she wrote her first haiku. A few weeks ago my students did name research, and Vannisa discovered her name means “flighty.” I told her that was perfect because she flits like a butterfly all over the classroom. Not surprising her haiku is a butterfly haiku.
I have also included a group of questions Mrs. Heinisch’s class asked her in a comment on her blog. I especially love her response. Notice she mentions I Haiku You, a book I learned about on Two Writing Teachers.
Little Butterfly
Fluttering past a flower
Too small to be seen
–Vannisa
Thoughts from Mrs. Heinisch’s 6th grade class:
Why did you pick to write about butterflies?
Why did you chose to write it as a Haiku?
Do you think the word butterfly comes from flies sitting on butter?
How big was the butterfly?
Who made up the word butterfly?
Thank you for posting your Haiku today! We all enjoyed it!
Vannisa’s response:
Well it is nice to know that sixth graders are reading one of my post because I’m only in third grade.
First and second question:
I read a book called “I Haiku You” by Betsy Snyder and I decided to write a haiku. I thought it was going to be hard because a haiku is five syllables and then seven then five. It turns out it wasn’t that hard because my gifted teacher said haikus usually are making the reader put a picture in their head and that they’re usually about nature.
question three:
Actually sometimes, but my name means flighty. Like I’ll do something and then another thing.
question four:
I would say… as big an average human palm.
number five:
I don’t know, and like I said I’m only in third grade.
Slice of Life Challenge Day 8
Posted in Poetry Friday, tagged haiku, poetry, swamp on February 15, 2013| 11 Comments »
I.
Fog lingers with mist–
highway disappears from view:
keep the low lights on.
II.
Black and white spots graze
in fertile flat fields green–
cow-friends meeting.
III.
One road to same sky–
winter trees sleep in bare branches
showing their true selves.
IV.
Turn on a new playlist–
sun illuminates sprouting
swamp grass wildflowers.
Margaret Simon, all rights reserved
Follow me on Twitter at @MargaretGSimon
Linda at Teacher Dance is hosting Poetry Friday.
Posted in Poetry, Slice of Life, Writing, tagged haiku, Solomon House, thanksgiving on November 20, 2012| 5 Comments »
Join the Tuesday Slice of Life
On the Two Writing Teachers blog this morning, I found these quotes:
“Walk through life like a writer.” –Lucy Calkins
“Tell the truth about your life and what’s really going on.” –Georgia Heard
“We know the truth of ordinary life events. Everything doesn’t end with ‘happily ever after’.” –Georgia Heard
I needed to hear all three. My ankle hurts. In our family when you complain like this, we call you (me) the “Bo-bo queen.” Something about annoying pain of an integral body part has made me thus. I am grateful for my new doctor-friend who fixed me up yesterday with an ankle brace and some powerful anti-inflammatory drugs. But I struggled with a blog post for this Tuesday slice because I didn’t want to whine, but I was unable to come up with something to write about. And then, this morning I read the wise words from Georgia Heard, “Tell the truth about your life and what’s really going on.” So I’m here letting you know that my ankle hurts.
But also, I am thankful.
Teens from St. Barnabas youth group gave out candy-filled mugs in holiday wrap.
Every Tuesday morning I serve at our church’s outreach mission, Solomon House. This morning was filled with joy. Teens from a youth group showed up with bins full of mugs wrapped in holiday wrapping to give out to the clients. The clients lined up all along the sidewalk. Each of them greeted me with kindness. What do I have to complain about? Nothing. The truth is there are many hurting people out there. They heart in mind, body, and spirit. I can look them in the eye with true love and gratefulness.
Another slicer, Linda B. at Teacher Dance, introduced me to the thanku movement led by Teaching Authors. A thanku is a haiku of thanks. Here is my attempt to capture the morning:
Many hands spread joy
Many hands give thanks for you
Walk your path in peace,
knowing this.
Link to Teaching Authors two weeks of thanks
Posted in Poetry, Slice of Life, tagged bayou, haiku, nature on April 4, 2012| 2 Comments »
30 Day Poetry Challenge Day 4: Write a haiku (a three line poem where the first line has 5 syllables, the second line has 7 syllables, and the third line has 5 syllables). Haiku are often about nature, but yours can be about anything.
During the March Slice of Life Challenge, a fellow slicer wrote a series of haiku about his day: Kevin’s Meandering Mind
The storm woke me up at 4:30. The dog, Charlie, was upset. I decided to enable his insecurities and cuddle with him on the couch.
Wakened by the storm,
Frightened, we cuddle safely
in each others’ arms.
It’s Spring Break this week, Holy Week. I scheduled a facial and massage at the spa.
Melting cares away
Massage relieves all tension
relaxation time
Looking out on the bayou after the storm, I saw this egret fishing in the bog behind our house.
Stealthily steps in
egret fishes, alert with
head poised for the catch.
One of the goals of my week off was to repaint my bathroom. Today, I went to the paint store.
Pick a paint color
Refresh my bathroom walls with
Gratifying Green.
My after school writing students do not have their break until next week, so they came over to write.
Counting syllables
Grace, Isabell, and Patrick
write their best haiku.
Living on the bayou, I watch the daily barge pass by. Today’s barge was named Louisiana Sunrise.
Watch the barge go by
Louisiana Sunrise
churns the brown bayou.
Can you make a haiku of your day?
Taking the back way
Paddling on the water-way
soft bayou sunset
This video was posted by the 30 Day Poetry Challenge. It speaks to the art of Western Haiku.
Posted in Slice of Life, tagged haiku, Slice of Life, spring on March 19, 2012| 3 Comments »
This wisteria vine grows outside my bedroom window and blossoms each spring. It never ceases to surprise and inspire me. My husband hates the vine for its invasiveness. In the summer, it sends out tendrils that cover the walkway and the crepe myrtle next to it. Nevertheless, I beg its forgiveness and continue to save its life. The beauty is sacred to me and food for the bees. I wrote a little haiku.
wisteria wakes
a scented hello to bees
whispers welcome spring
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
Reflections on the Teche 