This month’s Poetry Sisters challenge was to write a poem form called a raccontino, a poem of any number of couplets in which the odd-numbered lines (along with the title) tell a story. Even-numbered lines rhyme. This was a totally new form to me, so I looked for inspiration in an obituary, of all things. I liked how the woman was described as leaving a legacy of kindness. Who among us would not want to leave that kind of legacy?
She Leaves laughter and abiding love, a generous spirit echoing silly songs.
Her family holds her legacy. When every heart longs
to be of some use, of a place she belongs,
there is only kindness that lasts, healing all wrongs.
July came in with a poem from Grateful Living. A poem I know and love. One I’ve carried in my pocket often for Poem in your Pocket Day. It’s likely one that you know as well, Kindness by Naomi Shihab Nye. In my notebook I wrote a riff on the line “You must know sorrow as the other deepest thing.”
You Must Know
Sorrow buries itself in the marrow of your bones, zaps your energy so all you can do is stop, rest, breathe slow and steady.
Then you emerge, shedding a former skin to feel Love as the deepest thing, how sorrow lights on a fence post to show you what is true. All a part of you.
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Heaven is under our feet as well as over our heads.
H. D. Thoreau from 365 Days of Wonder: Mr. Browne’s Precepts
Notebook Musings:
Can kindness be taught? How does someone reach out in kindness? We worry so much about impressions. Small talk drives our relationships: How are you doing? We don’t stand still long enough to hear, really hear the answer.
Naomi Shihab Nye wrote, “Before you know kindness as the deepest thing inside,/ you must know sorrow as the other deepest thing.” I believe this, yes. I also believe that if you want a child to be kind, you must practice kindness. I hope my grandchildren learn this from me.
I received two messages yesterday that warmed my heart. My middle daughter wrote, “Thomas said, ‘I love baking with my grandma. Do you know who that is? It’s Mamère!”
The second came from my oldest daughter. “I really want him (her son) to have his own relationship with y’all like I did with my grandparents. Makes life more meaningful for all involved. He is a little secret sweetie.” She texted me that Leo had left his two stuffed animals, Bunny and Bear, at my house. I imagined how sad he was without them in his bed.
Secret soft stuffy missing beside boy catching silent tears of Loss
Margaret Simon, daily elfchen
I found the stuffies and they are waiting to be returned to their boy.
Thank you to Two Writing Teachers for creating an amazing community of writers and a safe, welcoming space to write and share.
When I was a little girl, I remember walking door to door to show my neighbors my skinned knee from a bike accident. You may have called me a “Boo Boo Queen.” I lived in Mississippi in the 70’s. We knew our neighbors. They all had kids around our ages. We played outside, ran through the water of the creek, chased fireflies, and rode our bikes from house to house putting on plays. Those were the days, or do they still exist?
These last few weeks I’ve been the ultimate Boo-Boo Queen following a major surgery, a hysterectomy. Recovery has been slower than I was led to believe, not because of anything more serious than basic body plumbing. It amazes me how all of that digestive stuff, gut health is so important to healing.
This recovery, however, has had some bright spots in it as I take a daily walk on my street. I feel closer than ever to my neighbors. I have come to understand that you have to let people help you. I know there will be a time when I will need to return the favor, so when next door Theresa asked if she could do anything, I sent her to the vet to pick up Charlie’s meds. Of course, when she returned, we got in a nice visit.
James picks up penny nails on the road. Later he counted more than 70 of them.
Yesterday I was walking and spotted a number of penny nails on the road. Perhaps some working crew had dropped them. I knew I couldn’t bend over for any length of time and pick them up, so I texted Jen and asked for one of her boys to come out with a ziplock bag. A simple act of citizenship turned into a math lesson for 9 year old James, a zine lesson for 5 year old Jerry (we wrote a story together), and an inspiring conversation with their young parents. God bless them. They are here from Indiana helping Jen’s mother cope with her father’s illness. Before my surgery, I took the three boys to a splash pad for some summer fun. After, they showed up at my door with fresh picked cucumber and a cake James made “by himself.”
With another cucumber from the neighbor’s garden, my husband suggested a watermelon and cucumber salad with dinner. I haven’t been eating much, but this idea made my mouth water. I texted another neighbor, Ric, to see if he had some basil and mint in his wife’s garden. In the late afternoon, I took another walk (figuring out that two walks a day are better than one for my recovery) and stopped at Ric’s. I came home with basil, mint, parsley, and some left over tabouli that another neighbor had made for Ric.
The list could go on. I am so blessed to live near friendly people who care about me, watch over me, and feed me. Do you have kind neighbors that sustain you?
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As many of you are, I am having trouble getting my head around another mass shooting. What scares me most is the rhetoric that surrounds this tragic event. The talk of intolerance that perpetuates racism and fear.
I decided to look for hope. In the midst of tragedy, we must have hope. Hope is not denying the fear or the sadness. Hope allows for something new to come forth. Hope is like opening a window and hearing the cardinal singing. Hope is smelling the fresh air after the rain and knowing a rainbow is up there somewhere. Hope never fails.
Lin-Manuel Miranda’s acceptance speech at the Tony’s gives voice to what I am feeling.
We rise and fall and light from dying embers, remembrances that hope
and love last longer
And love is love is love is love is love is love is love is love
cannot be killed or swept aside.
From a letter written by R. J. Palacio, author of Wonder, to the school district of Round Rock on disinviting Phil Bildner to their schools:
The truth is, I’m tired of intolerance. I’m tired of the unkindness that breeds intolerance. I’m tired of the ignorance that fuels it and the fear that spreads it. We must all—authors, publishers, teachers, librarians, and school administrators—work together to stop intolerance in its tracks when we see it. Kindness can never grow where intolerance has taken root.
If all you did was watch TV news or scroll through social media, you may think that our world was in dire trouble. Terrorism, racism, hatred, intolerance…
But I look to my students, my own children, my colleagues, my friends and I see love, hope, and light. Please, please, please look for the light. Find the helpers. See the good in others. Hope is everything, my friends. Hold on tight to that feather.
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Participating in the Global Read Aloud has changed the tone in my classroom. As I’ve mentioned before, we are reading Fish in a Tree by Lynda Mullaly Hunt. The story is realistic and takes place in a 6th grade classroom where there are all types of kids, the cut-up, the bully, the follower, the smart one, and Ally who believes she is dumb. My students are getting a good long look at these characters. They talk about them as if they know them. We are starting to even use them as labels, “Don’t be a Shay.” (Shay is the smart-aleck bully.)
This week was Global Read Aloud Random Acts of Kindness week. We watched a video from Amy Krouse Rosenthall, an author whose book is also part of Global Read Aloud. In her video, she does kindness pranks by leaving a box of Ding Dongs at random houses, ringing the doorbell, and running away. My kids loved this idea. They wanted to do it to the teachers, Teacher Pranks.
One student brought in two containers of rocks from Walmart. Her idea came from Cynthia Lord, to write a word message on each rock. They wrote words like love, brave, kindness, etc. on each rock. I brought in brown lunch bags, and with the help of the art teacher, they decorated them. We also had candy and made a batch of lavender bath salts using Epsom Salt. Would you like to get a gift bag like this? My kids made their Halloween party into a Kindness party. They even managed to be sneaky without being crazy.
Bath salts: Epsom salt, food coloring, and lavender scent.
Kindness rocks
Last week we wrote Fib poems. I posted about them here. I invite any class reading Fish in a Tree to write Fib poems about the characters and add it to our padlet.
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Ruth Ayres invites us the celebrate each week. Click over to her site Discover. Play. Build. to read more celebrations.
Swinging for Addyson
1. When I heard the news that one of our students had been diagnosed with a brain tumor, I pulled out my crochet needle and created a prayer blanket for her. Saturday I gave her the blanket at a ragball fundraising event for her medical bills. Her smile says it all. Keep Addy and her family in your prayers as they continue to fight this battle.
Make yourself a park ranger.
2. Celebrating #clmooc and collaborative learning: This week marked the sixth and final make cycle of #clmooc. NWP joined the National Parks Service to encourage getting outside and exploring your national, state, and heritage parks. Kevin Hodgson invited me to join in the Google hang out on Tuesday evening. I love collaborating and learning from others. The archive of the hang out is here.
I had every intention of visiting a state park but the heat and the fact that my daughter was home kept me from participating further in this project.
Cheers to my daughter Martha.
3. Martha is home! My youngest flew in from Chicago for my last week of summer break. I’ve enjoyed spending time with her and just knowing she’s home.
4. My classrooms (I teach at two schools) are clean, organized, and decorated, ready for students to arrive all too soon.
photo by Jan Risher
5. Jan Risher, a writer for The Advertiser, the Lafayette regional newspaper, put out a call on Facebook for people to make paper cranes to honor the two victims of last week’s Grand 16 shooting. She gathered enough cranes to make two senbazuru. I made a few cranes and just doing this small gesture comforted me and helped me to feel a part of this community. I am very proud of the way the Acadiana community has responded with an outpouring of support and love. To me, it’s the only way to respond to violence…complete and utter kindness.
6. Speaking of responding with kindness and love, I celebrate James Taylor. In 1979 after our home had been totally flooded, the first album we purchased was James Taylor’s Flag. I listened to Up on the Roof so many times I memorized all the words. His music is still lifting up spirits and sharing love. Here is a recent performance in which the Charleston Low Country Voices joined him on stage. JT makes everything all right.
This is the bumper sticker on my car. When is the world going to get the message?
I didn’t think I would post today because Monday was a long day with school, an after school appointment, then a funeral. But I am feeling that I must respond. The funeral I attended was a joyous celebration of a life. As the bagpipes played when we exited the chapel, I hugged a student I taught 30 years ago, now a beautiful woman with two precious children. Her father suffered a long time with Parkinson’s. He is healed now, and we embraced to share the warmth of his legacy, his love. Why would anyone do harm on a day like today? Or on any day, for that matter? I just don’t get it.
I read Naomi Shihab Nye’s poem, Kindness. I’ve decided this poem will be in my pocket on Poem in your Pocket Day on April 18th.
I have collected words from Naomi, from Anne Lammott, and from a conversation at the funeral. This collection is my message to the terrorists, the ones who do harm, live in fear and create fear. Let us practice kindness. Let us answer with kindness. It is the only answer that makes any sense.
Before you know what kindness really is
you must lose things,
you must cry real tears,
taste them as they fall,
let them baptize you, wash you clean.
We are all cracked and broken.
That is how the light gets in,
the light shining in the darkness.
In the dark room, we hold God’s hand.
Here we are helped,
drawn up out of the depths
to know love.
And when we know this love,
we can live in love
and practice kindness.
It is only kindness that makes sense anymore.
Do no harm.
Margaret Simon lives on the Bayou Teche in New Iberia, Louisiana. She teaches gifted elementary students, writes poetry and children's books. Welcome to a space of peace, poetry, and personal reflection. Walk in kindness.
Reflections on the Teche 