small poems | Reflections on the Teche

Posts Tagged ‘small poems’

This Photo Wants to be a Poem: Under the Pier

Posted in Photography, Poetry, This Photo Wants to be a Poem, Travel, Writing, tagged #poemsofpresence, #ThisPhoto, Dr. Mary Howard, Myrtle Beach, small poems, sunset, This Photo Wants to be a Poem on January 18, 2023| 29 Comments »

I can’t resist a good sunset photo. I don’t think I’m alone in this. A brightly colored sunset reminds us that things will be alright. I saw this wonderful photo on Mary Howard’s Facebook. She often posts sunsets from her new home in Hawaii, but this one is from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. She happily granted permission for me to use it.

“I was in Myrtle Beach SC for a SERRRA presentation. Each night I’d walked the beach to get sunset photos. On this day I noticed that I could actually walk under this and it made for a perfect photo. I’m learning to pay attention to my gut!” Mary Howard

Please post a small poem in the comments and support other writers with encouraging responses. I will be posting my own poem later today.

Sun reluctantly sets
in golden glow
sending us a message
of hope.
Margaret Simon, draft

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This Photo Wants to be a Poem: Moss

Posted in Photography, This Photo Wants to be a Poem, Writing, tagged Henry Cancienne, Nature poems, small poems, Spanish moss on January 4, 2023| 37 Comments »

Happy New Year and Welcome to This Photo Wants to be a Poem. Let the muse take you away for a few minutes to the swamp of Louisiana where Spanish Moss drapes from trees. This week I am using a photo from photographer Henry Cancienne who head out to shoot photos on New Year’s Day when the weather was misty and warm (balmy). Henry’s photographs are featured in my book Bayou Song: Explorations of the South Louisiana Landscape.

Henry takes pictures of both flora and fauna of South Louisiana. Let this photo help you create a small new year poem (perhaps your first of 2023; it is mine). Share your poem in the comments and write encouraging responses to other writers.

Swamp fairies
sprinkled dewdrops
to wake up the forest.
The new year was yawning.
Margaret Simon, draft

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This Photo Wants to be a Poem: Fresh Fruit

Posted in Photography, Poetry, This Photo Wants to be a Poem, Writing, tagged fruit trees, modern haiku, small poems on September 20, 2022| 26 Comments »

I try to get outside early in the morning for a walk, often before the sun rises. On my path is a grove of fruit trees. I watch these trees as the season slowly changes to fall. Trees seem to know even before we can feel the air temperature change that fall is on its way. I know the slant of light changes and all that, but I just wish for a little cooler breeze. My husband always says that satsumas (oranges) ripen around the time of the first report card. I wrote a modern haiku in honor of the wet green fruit. Please take a moment to write a small poem in the comments and support other writers.

Sweet fruit of the earth
Taste of rain, taste of sun
Abundantly enough
Margaret Simon, draft

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This Photo Wants to be a Poem: Dramatic Sky

Posted in Photography, Poetry, This Photo Wants to be a Poem, Writing, tagged #poemsofpresence, pink sky, small poems on August 31, 2022| 43 Comments »

The skies have been dramatic lately with storms rolling in and out. On a morning walk earlier this week, I looked up and saw a carpet of pink. A few steps later, a rainbow. Then the sky became yellow and the clouds broke apart. All in a matter of minutes.

Let this image inspire your muse this morning. Where will you walk? Who is with you? What can you imagine? Write a small poem in the comments and come back to leave encouraging responses to others.

Avalyn (3rd grade) wrote this haiku with me:

Cotton candy sky
If you look closer, you see
aesthetic heaven.
Mrs. Simon and Avalyn

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This Photo Wants to be a Poem: Tree Heart

Posted in Photography, Poetry, tagged #poemsofpresence, live oak trees, resurrection fern, small poems, South Louisiana, This Photo Wants to be a Poem on June 29, 2022| 20 Comments »

Rain has returned! It helps cool things a bit. Rather than near 100 degrees, we are closer to 90. Afternoon showers make for cooler morning walks, mid-70’s, Ah! With rain comes resurrection fern. It grows on oak trees and after a good soaking, emerges as a deep green shaggy blanket on the branches of the trees. This oak I passed on my walk greeted me with a heart. Use this photo as a muse for your writing today. Leave a small poem in the comments. Encourage other writers with comments. Thanks for stopping by.

Tree Heart with resurrection fern, Margaret Simon, 2022.

From a sleepy, dry bed,
fluffy green feathers
emerge
surrounding your open
heart…
Resurrection!
Margaret Simon, draft

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This Photo Wants to be a Poem: Country Road

Posted in Photography, Poetry, Writing, tagged #poemsofpresence, country roads, small poems, This Photo Wants to be a Poem on May 18, 2022| 23 Comments »

I drive the same roads every day as I travel between two schools. Both of my schools are rural, and I’ve come to appreciate the calm of the countryside. This spring the black-eyed Susan wildflowers have been in full bloom. Usually I am on a time schedule and can’t stop to take pictures, but recently as I was passing, I put on the brakes and put the car in reverse right there in the middle of the road. I took this photo. It was a bright sunny day and I took it quickly, but the next day the field had been mowed and all the yellow flowers were gone. I realized I should appreciate the present moment. The old adage “Stop to smell the roses.” What else are we given but this moment right now?

Country barn with black-eyed Susan wildflowers, photo by Margaret Simon

Invitation: Share your own poem in the comments and encourage other writers with comments.

No one can tell you what to do.
You have to be bold.
Some see weeds
where others find gold.
Margaret Simon, draft

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This Photo Wants to be a Poem: Looking Up

Posted in Photography, Poetry, tagged Avery Island, Jungle Gardens, Poems of presence, small poems, yoga on May 4, 2022| 14 Comments »

It’s Wednesday again and life continues to move forward. May is here and settling in on a warm breeze. Yesterday evening I attended a special Yen Yoga session in Jungle Gardens on Avery Island (known for its production of Tabasco). The evening was beautiful. A light breeze blew through the canopy of oaks, swaying the Spanish Moss. The calming meditation was just what I needed. I took a photo while lying on the mat looking up into the trees. I wish it were higher quality so you could see the moss that almost looked like blossoms as the setting sun glimmered.

Looking up through Live Oaks, photo by Margaret Simon

Moss blooms on an evening breeze
while yogis stretch in tree pose
longing to be held by Mother Earth.
Margaret Simon, draft

Please leave a small poem in the comments and support your fellow writers with encouraging comments.

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This Photo Wants to be a Poem: Story

Posted in Photography, Poetry, Slice of Life, Writing, tagged Explore, Leo, small poems, This Photo Wants to be a Poem on March 2, 2022| 48 Comments »

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

Welcome to This Photo Wants to be a Poem. If this is your first time here, let me explain. Originating with Laura Purdie Salas’s weekly writing prompt 15 Words or Less, This Photo is a weekly photo-inspired writing prompt. Each Wednesday I post a photo and invite you to write a small poem in response in the comments section. If you write a poem, please write encouraging comments to other poets by replying to their comments. This is a safe place to play with poetry. No worries. No critics.

This week I am posting a photo that my daughter Maggie took of her 3 year old, my grandson Leo as they were leaving a diner. That’s as much as I want to tell you because when I saw this picture, I thought there’s a story in this photo. You can write the story in your small poem. Have fun with it.

Did you have your coffee?
Do you see the door?
I’m ready to explore.
Won’t you come with me?
Margaret Simon, draft

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This Photo Wants to be a Poem: Fall Leaves

Posted in Photography, Poetry, Writing, tagged #NationalDayofWriting, #poemsofpresence, #WhyIWrite, Nature poems, small poems, This Photo Wants to be a Poem on October 20, 2021| 23 Comments »

After hurricanes and weeks and weeks of heat, things in the deep south are finally feeling like fall. Fall is one of my favorite seasons. Surprisingly not for the colorful foliage of today’s image, but for the scents in the air. Here in Louisiana, the sweet olive blooms. The satsuma ripens, and the sugarcane is harvested. A plethora of scent-sations. And don’t get me started on gumbo. If someone is making a roux, you can smell it for miles around.

This photo comes from the Northwest where my blogging friend Ramona Behnke lives and writes at Pleasures from the Page. We do not get this kind of color here. Most of our trees are live oaks and pines that stay green and cypress trees that drop brown fuzzies. But I do love a good photograph of fall leaves.

If the trees could play
a melody the wind
would sing, we’d know
the secrets of the song
and blend with
harmony.
Margaret Simon, draft

Write a small poem in the comments. Let the muse take you where it will. I have no idea where my little poem came from. Writing is like that, mysterious and magical in so many ways. Be sure to come back and write encouraging comments to each other. I love it when someone sees something in my poem in a new and different way than I did.

Today is the National Day on Writing, an initiative of NCTE and National Writing Project. Use the hashtag #WhyIWrite.

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This Photo Wants to be a Poem: Sprinkler Backbend

Posted in Photography, Poetry, Writing, tagged Lisa Davis, small poems, summer, This Photo Wants to be a Poem on June 30, 2021| 38 Comments »

Summer is hot, no matter where you live, and the best way to beat the heat is to play in the water. This photo is sure to cool you off. It’s from Lisa Davis’s Instagram feed. Lisa was the site director for the National Writing Project at Northwestern State University in Natchitoches, LA. (pronounced Nak-a-dish) She is currently retired (I think) and enjoying being a grandmother. I couldn’t resist her post of her granddaughter dancing in the sprinkler.