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Poetry Friday: Waking in Red

Posted in Books, nature, Poetry Friday, Writing, tagged #poemsofpresence, Books along the Teche, Ethical ELA, ode on May 9, 2025| 13 Comments »

The Poetry Friday Roundup is being gathered by Sarah Grace Tuttle.

Last month I was writing a poem each day prompted by Ethical ELA. One of the prompts offered by Alexis Ennis invited us to write an ode to peace. This prompt landed on a Sunday when I had time to sit and sip on my back deck overlooking the bayou. In winter when I had to haul pots inside, I cursed my love of tropical flowers, but on this day, I was celebrating their quiet and bright emergence.

As I revised this poem, I asked AI to give it a title. I like the response, go figure, of “Waking in Red.”

Waking in Red

the corner of my heart
slowing for breaths
deep and long

on the cypress
the cardinal busy
on branches by and by

here is the ruby-throated hummer
humming a second longer

there the glowing sun rising
to light this day

space opens for red bat plant,
desert rose, and buckeye

skin warms
as I wake
with the power
of red.
Margaret Simon, draft

I am writing a poem a day in May using #poemsofpresence and #smallpoems. Many of them are inspired by flowers. I invite you to join me on Instagram.

If you live nearby, come by Books Along the Teche (our local indie bookstore) for our book signing. Books Along the Teche will take orders for signed books.

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Poetry Friday: Ode to the Satsuma

Posted in Gratitude, Poetry, Poetry Friday, Teaching, tagged #poemsofpresence, Louisiana fruit, ode, satsumas on November 8, 2024| 16 Comments »

Poetry Friday is hosted today by Cathy at Merely Day by Day

With my fifth and sixth grade students, I am reading Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse. I’m amazed at the parallels of the Dust Bowl to our current climate crisis in Louisiana, but that is a post for another time. Today I am determined to focus on beauty.

The poem Apple Blossoms was our mentor text. I wrote alongside my students about our favorite fruits. Mine is currently overflowing on a tree in our backyard, the satsuma.

Ode to the Satsuma

after Karen Hesse “Apple Blossoms” Out of the Dust

Not just an orange,
you are the ultimate
citrus,
hanging like golden ornaments
on our tree near the fence
where butterflies play
and spiders web.

Your easy-to-peel goodness
makes anticipation grow
in fall, until by Halloween,
the tree is full, overflowing, drooping, dripping
inviting me to basket
a gift for you
to share juicy sweetness
and smile!

Margaret Simon, draft

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Slice of Life/Poetry Friday: Three Pecans

Posted in Poetry Friday, Progressive poem, Writing, tagged Cane River Pecan Company, Mahmoud Darwish, ode, Poetry Foundation on March 15, 2024| 16 Comments »

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

Poetry Friday is hosted today by Tanita at (fiction instead of lies)

This week I met with two local poets, one a former student who is nearing 14, and the other a visiting musician from Argentina who is 26 (I think). We met at a local coffee shop to write poetry together. I brought a poem I received from the Poetry Foundation, To Our Land by Mahmoud Darwish.

To our land,
and it is the one near the word of god,
a ceiling of clouds

To our land,
and it is the one far from the adjectives of nouns,
the map of absence

To our land,
and it is the one tiny as a sesame seed,
a heavenly horizon … and a hidden chasm
Mahmoud Darwish, read the rest of the poem here.

We talked about what we noticed. The anaphora of To our Land became our prompt for writing “To Our _______”.

Our discussion was surprisingly sophisticated, so truly engaged in the words, the feelings, and how each of us responded differently. Fran said, “We must do this again next week.” A writing group was formed.

I said, “We need to have a name.”

Kaia looked up at the pecans surrounding us (we were in the Pie Bar of a pecan company.) “What about three pecans?”

To Our Poets
after Mahmoud Darwish

To our poets
speaking with their pens
pencils tearing the page.

To our poets,
and he is the one grieving his land
a prize of war,
a jewel that glimmers for the far upon the far.

To our poets,
and she praises the birds, the imagination
calling to us announcing our place
in a family of things.

To our poets,
the ones who gives themselves permission
to be poets, folding pages of a notebook
that unfold their untold secrets.

And for us
who listen
and find fresh air to breathe.
Margaret Simon, draft

Click here to sign up for a day to add a line to April’s Progressive Poem.

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Poetry Friday: Ode to Molly’s Strawberry Jam

Posted in Gratitude, Poetry Friday, Writing, tagged Molly Hogan, Neruda, ode, strawberry jam on July 20, 2023| 27 Comments »

Poetry Friday Round up is Here!
Scroll down to add your link.

One of the pleasures of summer is fruit in abundance. My fridge is full of strawberries, blueberries, apples, watermelon, and more. Fruit is how I satisfy my sweet tooth.

I had surgery three weeks ago. My friend and fellow Inkling Molly Hogan sent me some strawberry jam with strawberries she picked herself on a farm in Maine. I have been so touched by how wide my circle of friends reaches.

I subscribe to a lot of poetry emails. The Poetry Foundation featured an ode by infamous Pablo Neruda praising tuna, Ode to a Large Tuna in the Market. I noted “write an ode about food.” Then I received News from the Fishbowl newsletter and Poets & Writers The Time is Now. Both of these prompts came from Neruda’s tuna poem. The universe was telling me to write an ode.

Looking at this poem again, I want to adjust that last line. Maybe delete it altogether. My thought was to have color in my face, but it could be associated with blood (yuck!). My grandson Leo loves to talk about bleeding. He wanted to see my belly button scar. Maybe he will grow up to be a surgeon.

But I digress. Friends, please put your links in the Inlinz below. Thanks.

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Poetry Friday: Ode to the Letter M

Posted in Poetry Friday, Writing, tagged #gratitude, being grandmother, Margaret poems, ode on November 19, 2021| 8 Comments »

Poetry Friday round-up is with Carol at Beyond Literacy Link

This prompt came to me in an email from Poets & Writers, The Time is Now. When my Inklings saw this poem, Mary Lee thought the prompt was surely In Gratitude by Abigail Carroll which was featured on this episode of The Slowdown. I love how the universe is like that sometimes, synchronous, speaking to each other. I join the conversation with my own ode to a single letter.

Ode to Letter M
But I love the M, mountainous-
hill-valley-hill-valley
signed with 3 fingers hugging a thumb,
the way milk-full infant fingers
grip my thumb and hold on tight.

I love the M handed down on grandmother’s tea towels,
embroidered like the sign of the cross
on my forehead. I baptize you in the name of
Margaret.
I stand with the Roman numeral (M)
confident in her thousand mornings
musing on the mimicry
of a single mockingbird.
Scent of magnolia fills the room
from the lit candle, like a warm May breeze
that blows homemade cards,
memories, and a rainbow handprint
identifying me
as Mamère,
as someone to love.
Margaret Simon

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SOL #30: Ode to a Thin Mint Cookie

Posted in Poetry, Slice of Life, Writing, tagged Helen Frost, Michelle Heidenrich Barnes, ode on March 30, 2017| 11 Comments »

Join the Two Writing Teachers blog for the Slice of Life Challenge.

Every month, Michelle H. Barnes posts an interview with a poet. Then a Ditty Challenge is given. This month’s challenge comes from Helen Frost.

Choose an object (a seashell, a hairbrush, a bird nest, a rolling pin). It should not be anything symbolic (such as a doll, a wedding ring, or a flag). Write five lines about the object, using a different sense in each line (sight, sound, touch, taste, smell). Then ask the object a question, listen for its answer, and write the question, the answer, or both.

I opened the freezer for a Thin Mint cookie, and thus an ode appeared.

Green-vested Girl Scouts
line boxes on a table outside Walgreens.
Crinkling wax paper opens
to a circle of mouth-watering chocolate.
Mint permeates my senses.
Why are you hiding in this box?
Come on out for my delight,
a refreshing bite.

–Margaret Simon

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