March 2026 Slice of Life, No. 1
Yesterday, I said “Goodbye” to February. Today, I say “Hello” to March. For several weeks I’ve been looking for signs of spring, and what I saw called for a poem.
SPRING
Cold melts away
Sun rises earlier
Grass grows green
Leaves unfurl
Blossoms lift their heads
Daffodils dress in yellow
Crocuses in purple
Tulips wave red, yellow, pink
Robins pull worms
Songbirds sing
Squirrels scamper
Summer’s coming
–Alice Nine
Writing about my writing
What inspired my poem
It was a warm March afternoon, and over a hundred robins had spent a few days in our backyard. They covered the lawn. They rested on our chain link fence and on the bare branches of the walnut tree. They flew from ground to tree, and back again. I stood so still beneath the spreading branches of the walnut tree that the robins ignored me and there, I sketched a robin resting on a branch, and then I got a cup of coffee and sat at my kitchen table and drafted a poem. I called it “Spring” because my mother always watched for the return of the robins to celebrate that winter was almost over. Robins are heralds of spring.
Robin in the Walnut Tree
How I crafted my poem
I chose to name things that I see in the first days of spring. Then I brainstormed verbs to go with those nouns. I asked myself what those nouns do in the spring. I paired these together–nouns and verbs–to form the basic lines of the poem. I added some modifiers and complements. I then chose to bookend my poem with a reference to the seasons that bookend spring. Cold melts away evokes winter at the beginning of the poem; Summer’s coming, the closing line, looks forward.
Robin in my Backyard
Volunteer Daffodils in my Yard
Grape Hyacinth Borders Our Walk
Thank you Two Writing Teachers
for hosting Slice of Life Story Challenge
where Alice Nine teaches language lessons that
Empower Students to Read and Write
LIke/Follow Alice Nine Academy on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/alice.nine.academy
I’m so glad you visited today,
and I do enjoy hearing from you!
Please share below.
Your comment will appear as soon as Alice Nine reads it.
I love your poem and your description of how it came about. I’m in Australia so I’m inspired to write one along similar lines to welcome autumn (even though we really don’t get seasons here, mainly warm, hot and hotter still!) I miss spring though as I come from England.
That is the way it was when we lived in Hawaii and I really missed the season changes. I will look for your autumn poem (counting on you writing it). 🙂
YAY to spring! I need it so badly!
I hear you! I always need spring.
Your poem is filled with the joys of spring. My favorite thing about spring is even though we loose an hour of sleep, the days stay lighter longer.
Oh! I love the daylight of long evenings. One of my favorite summer things!
I enjoyed your poem and also appreciated your description of both the what and the how. You must live somewhere warmer than I do, as most of your signs of spring haven’t happened here – yet. I am SO looking forward to them. Your poem gives me a little taste of spring.
Unlike most of the country, we have had a very mild winter… not even one snowflake.
Alice, this is a wonderful way to craft a slice and share it. I, too, look forward to the warmth of spring. Not the heat of summer as much, but the warmth of spring is such a blanket of comfort, and even the light that pours in through the windows is syrupy, like we’re finally breaking out of the frozen birdbaths.
Love your words “warmth of spring is such a blanket of comfort” … and the sunlight that “is syrupy” and “frozen birthbaths.” I can almost hear a poem in those words.
Thanks for sharing your spring-noticings and the resulting poem. I appreciate your sharing your process as well. I must say it’s all winter-white here in Maine, though I’m pretty sure I saw a robin on Friday! Still, there’s a sense of spring in the air…even though that air remains quite chilly and snow is in the forecast! Enjoy your colorful blossomings and this month of writing.
Ahhh! Let hope arise with the sighting of that lone robin. I’ve been watching your weather, way too much snow! We haven’t had a single snowflake on the valley floor. Our winter has been very mild.
How kind of you to share both the poem and the backstory, both inspiration and the process. The drawing and photos make lovely additions to the poem.
I like to read how people come up with their ideas and develop them. Sometimes it is more interesting than the actual slice. Thanks for noticing.
It’s always interesting to read about someone’s writing process. And in this slice we also have a drawing and photos that illuminate the writing. Thanks!
Thanks Diane, I debated about sharing that sketch… but then, I’m always asking students to sketch their ideas, to sketch what they are imagining when I read, especially a short descriptive or narrative poem. Of course my sketch came before the poem and inspired it.