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Posts Tagged ‘#poemsofpresence’

SOLC26: Day 11: This Photo

Posted in Gratitude, Slice of Life, This Photo Wants to be a Poem, Writing, tagged , , , , on March 11, 2026| 10 Comments »

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

This photo I took of a visiting cardinal. As the day’s news gets more and more tragic, I turn to nature. Some southerners believe that when you see a red bird, you are visited by a lost loved one.

This morning in my email feed, I received the word of the day from Merriam-Webster, besotted: “Someone described as besotted is so in love that they are unable to think clearly.”

I thought Besotted would make a good title for a poem. This is a drafting post. If you are inspired by the photo, please leave your own poem in the comments and support other writers with positive comments.

Besotted

You
in your red cardinal coat
distract me
humble me
enamor me
Perched with pride,
you say,

“I am here.”

Margaret Simon, draft

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SOLC26: Day 8: The Dawn Chorus

Posted in Gratitude, Poetry, Slice of Life, Writing, tagged , , on March 8, 2026| 21 Comments »

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

On my morning walk, I stopped to talk to a new-to-me neighbor. She’s lived in her house for a long time, but my route recently changed. I met her, but she already knows a good bit about me. (Small town)

We talked about my new board book (coming Tuesday), her new great granddaughter she wants a signed copy for, sound frequency healing, and gardens. She told me, “Did you know that the sound of the birds singing in the morning actually makes the plants open up and grow?”

As I continued my walk, I turned off my book on tape and turned on the Merlin app amazed by the number of birds around me. I spoke a poem into my notes app.

The Dawn Chorus

The songs of the birds wake my winter mind:
sparrow, wren,
small and mighty
in their announcement of spring.
A tickle of rain,
a wave from morning fleabane
Two turtles bobbing on a log
Stamens seem to say,
“Welcome! Welcome to this day!”

Margaret Simon, draft

Fleabane

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Poetry Friday: After Wendell Berry

Posted in Poetry Friday, Writing, tagged , , , on February 6, 2026| 15 Comments »

Poetry Friday is hosted by Molly Hogan at Nix the Comfort Zone.

Today is the first Friday of the month which is time for our Inklings challenge. This month Molly, our PF host today, asked us to follow a prompt to replace word for word of a Wendell Barry small poem. “Like Snow”

In South Louisiana, we don’t get much snow, but winter is a time for fog. One morning I watched the fog floating above the bayou and wrote my poem response.

Like Fog

What if I became a mist

Like the fog, softly, softly

Lifting the day. 

Fog on Bayou Teche

To read how other Inklings met this challenge, click below:

Mary Lee @ A(nother) Year of Reading
Linda @A Word Edgewise
Molly @ Nix the Comfort Zone
Heidi @my juicy little universe
Catherine @ Reading to the Core

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Poetry Friday: Tricube Challenge

Posted in nature, Poetry Friday, Writing, tagged , , , , , on January 30, 2026| 20 Comments »

Poetry Friday is hosted today by Amy at The Poem Farm.

This month the Poetry Sisters challenge was to write a tricube. The tricube form is 3 syllables, 3 lines, 3 stanzas.

Molly Hogan sent me the list of prompts from the MoSt Poetry Center. The prompt I used was this:

“Write a poem of presence, in terms of being in a particular place and time, or of having a dynamic demeanor (such as in “stage presence”) or a feeling of an unseen spirit. Here’s an example by Arthur Sze, our new U. S. Poet Laureate:

Here by Arthur Sze – Poems | Academy of American Poets”

I borrowed the line, “Be here now.”

Every year as I begin to set intentions, I get the universal message of presence. I feel presence is essential to peace of mind, but it is difficult to find.

I have a new kayak. Taking the kayak out took some initiative and help from my husband hero. Jeff had the grandkids in the canoe. When I wanted to try to get the kayak out of the water by myself, my grandson Leo said, “Prove it.” That was all the challenge I needed to pull the 60 pound vessel onto the dock. I did it.

First kayak adventure in “Chrysalis.”

Here
after Arthur Sze

Be here now
Here frog croaks
Here wren calls

Be here now
Here stalk grows
Here tea steams

Be here now
Here oar strokes
Here strength comes

Margaret Simon

I want to thank Tabatha Yeatts who offered on Poetry Friday last week to do an art piece for our 2026 words. I took her up on the offer. I’m touched and amazed at how this speaks to my intention for the year as well as the tricube I wrote.

Art by Tabatha Yeatts

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This Photo Wants to be a Poem: Owl Stump

Posted in Photography, Poetry, This Photo Wants to be a Poem, Writing, tagged , , , on January 28, 2026| 11 Comments »

Tree stump owl

I’ve been walking a different route recently and have seen this weird owl in the neighborhood. Let it be your muse today. In the comments, write your own small poem and encourage other writers with your comments.

Today I’ve chosen a tricube form. Three syllables each line, three lines per stanza, and three stanzas.

Tree stump owl
wise without
words spoken

Sees everyone
walking by
winks through shells

Remember
where you go
who you are

Margaret Simon, draft

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This Photo Wants to be a Poem: Camellia

Posted in nature, Photography, Poetry, This Photo Wants to be a Poem, Writing, tagged , , , on January 14, 2026| 13 Comments »

It is a new year, and I’ve been contemplating whether or not to keep posting photos on Wednesday. I’ve skipped a few weeks and the world keeps going. In 2026, I’ve chosen sacred simplicity as my one little word(s). What can be more simple and sacred than this pure white camellia blossom.

One of the gifts of living in the Deep South is camellias. They are in full bloom this month. People are talking about it. Was it the big freeze last year that brought on the full blooms this year? Nature knows.

If you are feeling a little lacking in the inspiration department, stop by and write a small poem.

My poem draft comes from a word card I chose from Georgia Heard’s newsletter for January, “Quiet” and uses an anaphoric word “Today.” The last line turned melancholic as I have experienced some losses this week.

Today
the downy white camellia blooms
quietly in the winter yard.

Today
the cold spills inside
touching my toes.

Today
seeds are waiting.
My heart is still.
Every note from songbirds
scratch the surface
of morning dew.

And I miss you.

Margaret Simon, draft

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Poetry Friday: This is January

Posted in Photography, Poetry Friday, Writing, tagged , on January 2, 2026| 17 Comments »

Poetry Friday is hosted today by Catherine Flynn at Reading to the Core

This is January. Here we all are on the cusp of a new year. Catherine Flynn, fellow Inkling, challenged our group to write a poem with “This is January” as a title. I guess you could say the prompt has been in my mind since she posed it, but the words of a poem only appeared on my notebook page today. I took it on as a kind of list poem.

This is January

I open the door
to let the dog out
shiver from the cold.

A quiet hope whispers
in a voice
I recognize.

I keep dreaming
about children playing.
Awake now, I’m still humming.

Amaryllis grows
an inch each day
expectant red blossom.

Carolina wren fusses
calling to me
to be my first new year bird.

Cypress trees are bare, brown.
Their shade is not needed
resting, waiting.

My husband remarks,
”If there was a need
for cypress needles, we’d
be rich.”

We are rich, I think,
to be here
loving and living
each day.

Even in January…

Margaret Simon, draft

Winter cypress, photo by Margaret Simon

Here is how other Inklings answered the prompt:

Heidi @my juicy little universe
Mary Lee @A(nother) Year of Reading
Linda @A Word Edgewise
Molly @Nix the Comfort Zone
Catherine @Reading to the Core

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This Photo wants to be a Poem: The Earth Snake

Posted in being mamére, Photography, This Photo Wants to be a Poem, Writing, tagged , , , , on December 24, 2025| 5 Comments »

The Earth Snake by Leo LeBlanc

Yesterday was a full day of being Mamére with Leo, 7, and Stella, 5. We went on a walk in our neighborhood. There is a vacant lot where a new house will be built soon. They had done some dirt work, so there was a mountain of dirt. In the mud, Albert, my dog, had sniffed out a small snake, thankfully dead.

Being Mamére, I allowed Leo to carry the snake home. He gave it a bath and wanted to show everyone. When I brought them home, he opened his gift from my sister-in-law who came with me specifically to see the kids open their gifts from her.

He opened a huge set of paint markers and a new art tablet and immediately drew this illustration. He also wrote this story.

Leo’s writing, age 7 (1st grade)

Of course, he made this writer grandmother proud. Today, I am pulling from his writing a small poem. The elfchen form includes 1 word topic, 2 words, what topic does, 3 words, where or how, 4 words, what do you mean, and 1 word, outcome.

Snake
Lay dead
dug from earth
a young boy’s buried
treasure

Margaret Simon, draft

Please join me today in writing a small ekphrastic poem. Have a wonderful holiday! Thanks for being a dedicated reader and writer.

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Poetry Friday: Winter Hope

Posted in being mamére, Poetry Friday, Writing, tagged , , , on December 12, 2025| 18 Comments »

Fellow Inkling Linda Mitchell has the round up today at A Word Edgewise.

Winter Hope
Winter has come
with rain upon rain.
Mud bank creeps
as bayou sneaks
higher and higher
with each downpour.

Water, water, water
is all we hear until a cloud white
egret steps softly into view.

Look! Look!
We call the toddlers to the window.

They see with new eyes of wonder.

I see with new eyes of wonder.
See! See!

Margaret Simon, draft

Great white egret on Bayou Teche, photo by Margaret Simon

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This Photo Wants to be a Poem: Nature Calls

Posted in Photography, Poetry, This Photo Wants to be a Poem, Travel, Writing, tagged , , , , on December 10, 2025| 7 Comments »

Photo by Mary Lee Hahn

After NCTE, my Inkling friend Mary Lee also stayed in Denver as a tourist. She sent me some of her photos of murals. I chose this one today to pair with Georgia Heard’s prompt “Write about a sound in nature that calms you.”

In my Wordle attempts this morning, I used the word “flame.” The line of hot pink at the bottom of this mural reminds me of the burning of cane fields that happens this time of year.

When you write today, can you find a word to use in a new way, playing with metaphor?

Morning wakes
with the call of barred owls
hooting up
a flame of grass fire
filling this day
with sweet light.

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