I subscribe to Georgia Heard’s newsletter. For the month of July, she invites us to write tiny letters. For July 2nd, the prompt is “Write a letter to the wind.” For the complete calendar, try this link.
I asked Molly Hogan, fellow Inkling who blogs at Nix the Comfort Zone, for a photo for this week. Molly is an amazing nature photographer who lives in Maine. She sent me a few to choose from, and I felt this one lended itself well to a letter to the wind.
Please share your small poems in the comments and support other writers with encouraging comments.
Here is my “quick write” letter to the wind:
Dear Wind,
Whatever the season, you show up soothe our suffering, cuddle tree branches, wrapping us up in your dreams. Be kind to us, wind, we are struggling through climate change, through terrific thunder storms. You give us breath, breath of life, breath of death. Tend our tender hearts, breath of daisy, breath of desire. Dear wind.
Thank you to Two Writing Teachers for creating an amazing community of writers and a safe, welcoming space to write and share.
I subscribe to Georgia Heard’s Heart map newsletter, Heartbeats. Last week she inspired me to use her print outs with my students on Poetry Friday.
We usually analyze a poem and write in the form of the poet or steal a line, etc. But on Friday, after the AR dance, we needed a break. I turned on Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. My students spread around the room and played with paper. I was surprised at how focused they became on a Friday!
We’ve returned to our heart maps to write poems from them. Some wrote as Georgia suggested, a letter poem to the thing you love most. Some wrote a poem like Danusha Laméris’s poem The Heart is Not.
James’s heart map
Dear pillow,
You comfort My head Every night And Keep me warm Until It is morning Where the sun Rises. When I go to school I miss you Because You’re my Object with a story. James, 4th grade
Marifaye’s Heart Map
I love how Marifaye took the map idea to a literal design making her heart look like a map. I sent this one to Georgia through Instagram. Marifaye wrote about her cat Carson. I feel partial to this poem because I was involved in matchmaking Marifaye to Carson. Carson was a stray kitten in my mother-in-law’s yard this summer. He was fostered by my friend Corrine. Then Marifaye’s family adopted him. He has found a soft place to land.
My Cat Carson:
How I love you so so much makes me smile every touch you make me happy when I’m sad hearing you purr and watching your tail flap hearing you meow, begging for pets then you take off, as fast as a jet. as soon as someone comes get me I just can’t wait to see my baby my baby cat, Carson. Marifaye, 5th grade
My messy heart map with letter poem draft.
Avalyn was drawn to the model poem by Danusha Laméris.
The Heart is Not
a bowl it’s not something you could just place your thoughts, emotions, memories in until it overflows.
The heart is not a bowl it’s not something you could just discard
The heart is not a bowl it’s not just a pretty decoration. Avalyn, 5th grade
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Over the weekend news traveled quickly of Kobe Bryant’s untimely death and the heart-wrenching revelation that his 13 year old daughter died with him. I’m not a huge basketball fan, but I knew my students would come Monday talking about this tragedy. So when I saw Sara Ahmed’s tweet, I took notice.
This is the piece of writing that got me hooked on the @PlayersTribune
This is the piece of writing I would share with students on Monday to remember #KobeBryant
I copied Kobe’s poem Dear Basketball. We talked about Kobe, about the accident, and read aloud the poem. Later in the day, I saw a Facebook post of this video, so my last class watched the video as well.
As a writing prompt, I told my students they could write a letter to something they love or write a letter to Kobe from his basketball. This prompt worked especially well with my boys. I want to share three of my students’ poems.
Dear Kobe
From the first time you made me from a ball of socks and threw me into a hoop,
I knew that you would become one of the greatest. I knew that you dreamt of being one of the greatest, by how you put your heart and soul into me, day and night, never resting. You put your blood, sweat, and tears into me.
You worked day and night, making shot after shot after shot after shot, until you were finally able to put on that Lakers jersey with me in your hand, doing the thing you love the most.
I am grateful for all the years we spent together, but as you grow older, your body isn’t into running up and down the court, throwing the ball into the hoop, but I know your heart will always be with me forever and ever.
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 