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| Photo: Larry and Teddy Page |
Roadtrip!!!
Wouldn't that be awesome? But as much as I'd like to sit around a table with you all, we don't need to go to Kimball, South Dakota to satisfy our munchies. We've got an all-you-can-eat buffet of finger-lickin' ditties right here– home-cooked and hot off the griddle.
At the beginning of this month David L. Harrison challenged us to write poems inspired by the word "ditty." I learned more than I ever expected about these poetic morsels— what they are, how to write them, and oh, the stories these ditties can tell!
THANK YOU to everyone who contributed a poem this month and/or supported each other with comments and encouragement. Most especially, thanks to David Harrison who not only lit the burners, but also brought his own little ditty to the potluck.
We've got more ditties here than you can shake a fork at!
Tuck in your napkin and let's dig in...
All poems are © 2016 (unless otherwise noted) and published with permission of the authors, who control all rights.
WELCOME TO TODAY'S LITTLE DITTY
by Michelle Heidenrich Barnes (2013)
Hello! I am here
with the blog of the day—
another keen writer
with something to say.
I’m not much for rants
or lengthy tirades,
for tangents, or rambling,
or silly charades.
What I’ve got to say
can be said in a ditty—
brief and concise,
though it may not be pretty.
In fact, truth be known,
it may not make much sense.
“I yam what I yam”
is my only defense.
So welcome aboard,
glad to have you along
to this world I call life
chiseled down to a song.
Step 1: define your ditty...
DITTY—A FOUND DEFINITION
by Jane Yolen
“Latin
Dictatum
From
Neuter
Past”
(Too short to make an evening last.)
“Participle
of
dictāre”
(Overthrow will set you free.)
Short poem
it seems,
"from
OLD
French
Dite.”
(Very short and often sweet.)
“A short
and
simple
song
or poem.”
(Verse soon over, bring it home.)
WHAT ABOUT A DITTY
by Jane Yolen
It’s not too deep
And seldom pretty,
Partly poem
And that’s a pity.
Takes a leap,
A high, a fall,
A lousy rhyme
Or two—that’s all.
Wont save the world,
Won’t change a mind,
Won’t move a mountain,
But you’ll find
An entertainment,
Sometimes witty.
Daft, and different.
That’s my ditty!
THAT'S NOT ALL, JANE.
by Kate O'Neil
And should a ditty
change a mind
and help someone
do something kind
you’d have to have
a second thought
for though a ditty
is quite short
it works just like
a butterfly
and might move mountains
by and by.
Simple words in
simple rhyme
can ripple to
the end of time.
THAT'S NOT ALL, KATE.
by Katie Gast
And even if
a ditty fails
to move the world,
that’s just details.
For any ditty
worth its salt
will act just like
a somersault
will turn us over
on our head
will turn us back,
upright, cheeks red.
An exercise
of mish-mash thoughts
that might turn out
to be ersatz.
ANOTHER POEM ABOUT A DITTY
by Jane Yolen
It’s an ear worm,
A stitch
It’s a son
of an itch
It won’t leave you alone
For a minute.
You hear it
And then
It repeats
Once again,
It’s a dittyable
Pitiable
Sin—it
Makes you feel
Foolish
And yet somewhat
Coolish
Restating it
Gives you a
Rise.
So you keep
On repeating
Your heart
Faster beating,
Each word in it
Now
A surprise.
It’s surely an itch
You continue
to scratch
Till the blood
That you draw
Drowns the room.
And I tell you
That ditty,
Small, wicked
(not pretty)
will surely
lead you
to your doom.
MY LITTLE DITTY
by Martha O'Quinn
There's an itty, bitty ditty
that dwells inside my head,
it hangs with me the livelong day
then follows me to bed.
Come morning's light I do believe
it has returned from whence it came.
Then, oh no! There's another itty bitty ditty
just a different tune and different name.
MY LITTLE DITTY
by Carol Varsalona
A short simple song
lingering tune
that makes my heart swoon.
Listen to this ditty sing (literally!) at Beyond Literacy Link.
DITTY
by Karen Eastlund
Dites-nous
Little ditty
Why your verse
Feels so giddy
Why your tempo
And rhyme
Fill our heads
Though your bloodline’s
Mundane
Perhaps some
Feel disdain
But most find you
On rerun instead
Ecoutez
Little ditty
There’s no need
For pity
We love all your
Whimsy and bounce
When we hear
Your refrain
We don’t cringe
Or complain
We just join you for fun
That’s what counts!
SPEAKETH DITTY
by Michelle Kogan
Dainty ditty did you hear?
Someone asked about your essence...
Dear ditty, do speak to me,
Shine on me your luminescence.
Take your shape within my thoughts,
No lollygagging, let’s advance.
I do declare it’s that time,
Perchance, please conjure your presence.
Are you light or are you dark?
Dearest, or ungrateful gadfly?
Climbing out of depths defied...
Critiquing now, I do decry!
What, you say, a bit louder,
Stand up tall. Begin. Be witty.
Take my turn, make it pretty...
Make my splash, speaketh My Ditty!
DAINTY DITTY
by Jessica Bigi
Dainty songs
Allusive voices
Interdentals melody
New songs
Tunes carried
Yodels pitches
Delightful harmony
Imaginative lyrics
Timeless favorites
Tranquil notes
Yesteryears remembered
IT'S A DITTY-FULL DAY
by Linda Baie
It might be a song
of rhyming words sweet,
or relaxing music
while rocking to sleep.
A to-and-fro sound
like love back and forth
takes time to go round
as a ditty.
Or it could be a rhyme
in the bright morning sun
for a dance in the kitchen
when breakfast is done.
We can sing it through chores
while we sweep and sway,
then we’ll skip outside
humming into the day
with a ditty.
Whatever you choose,
with your voice or a tap
the ordinary notes
fit a warm, cozy lap.
For a child getting sleepy
with words spoken low,
there’s no better thing
than a song that we know.
It’s a ditty!
GRANDMA'S DITTIES
by Linda Mitchell
In the history of ditties
there’s none so silly
as those Grandma knows
from when she was young.
Like…..
Tap tap-tap tap tap, tap TAP!
Shave and-a haircut, two bits
Or,
When running a bath
She makes me laugh
with a cheerful sea-side tune.
By the sea, by the sea
by the beautiful sea,
you and me, you and me
oh how happy we’ll be.
And what about
my first day of school tummy?
Full of butterfly nerves tummy?
Her wisdom in song
helps me along.
Make new friends
but keep the old
one is silver
but the other gold.
And sometimes
at bedtime
Gran is outrageous
as I pull on my PJ’s
and brush my teeth
she’ll call out a ditty
that no joke can beat.
Fatty and Skinny had a race
Up and down the pillow case
Fatty shouted it’s not fair
Skinny lost his underwear!
I giggle and wriggle
into bed for the night,
pull up the covers and
turn out the light.
Grandma sings a ditty
before I sleep:
I love you
a bushel and a peck
a bushel and a peck
and a kiss around
the neck.
If I’m ever a Gran,
it’s my plan
to be a little silly
with those I love.
Tapping, singing, rhyming too
If there’s ever time
for a little ditty or two.
Step 2: the finer points of ditty composition...
HOW TO WRITE A DITTY
by Buffy Silverman
A ditty should be witty
And a ditty should be short.
If a ditty isn’t witty
then a reader will not snort.
When a Valentine’s a ditty
bake it sweet as chocolate torte.
(Leave the grime and gritty for a senate subcommittee–
it’s a pity when a ditty is an odious retort.)
But if your ditty starts to wander through a thicket, through a city
and you’ve lost your sticky wicket and you get a speeding ticket–
STOP! You must abort!
MY DITTY
by Rosi Hollinbeck
I tried to write a ditty
but it wasn’t very pretty.
When I read it to my kitty,
he howled and slashed the couch.
I tried to make in stronger
but it just seemed to get longer.
Tried to make it like a song or
something sweet, but I’m a slouch.
I try to make the words rhyme
and make the meter keep time
but it turns out when I don’t I’m
lashing out, a nasty grouch.
Fiddle dee and fiddle dum.
My meter’s like a broken drum.
Maybe I best just keep mum.
My poetic muse will vouch.
DITTY LOVE
by Janie Lazo
Inside my head- a poem- a song.
Sometimes they're short; sometimes quite long.
These ditties come and must be shared.
A ditty here- a ditty there.
They do the things that ditties do-
They make us laugh; they make us blue.
I jot them on the go a lot,
Pull off the road - write down that thought.
I fear I've caught a ditty bug.
The tell-tale sign? Pure ditty love!
THE SILENT DITTY
by Leane Gill
Keats wrote of a "silent ditty."
A ditty with "no tone."
Is the unsung melody more splendid?
The unspoken word exceedingly exquisite?
Beauty just outside our grasp, impossible to capture.
Escapes our voice
And becomes our silent ditty.
Wheelbarrow tracks
crisscross
the soft, garden mud.
Having rained
three nights ago
the dirt
is like modeling clay.
Straight, simple
lines
obtuse, acute, right angles
father would be
proud
geometry in the soil
Wheelbarrow tracks
parallel lines
in which I compose a ditty.
– Jone Rush MacCulloch
DITTY (an acrostic of sorts)
dash dit dit
dit dit
dash
dash
dash dit dash dash
by: dash dit dit dash dash dit dash dash dit dash dash dit dash dit
– Diane Mayr
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| – cbhanek |
SILLY LITTLE DITTY
by Kathleen Mazurowski
Play a little ditty.
Sing a little ditty.
Strum a little ditty, do.
Hum a little ditty.
Clap a little ditty.
Dance a little ditty, too.
Read a little ditty.
Write a little ditty.
Act a little ditty, boo.
Learn a little ditty.
Watch a little ditty.
Listen . . . This little ditty's for you.
ITTY WITTY DITTY
by Michelle Kogan
Ditty dum, ditty dum, ditty dum dum dum
Ditty do, ditty do, ditty do do do
Itty ooo, itty ooo, itty ooo ooo ooo
Witty wooooo, witty ditty tooo!
(Spoken
or sung to Rossini’s William Tell Overture Finale “Lone Ranger theme.”)
Step 3: every ditty has a story...
A PIRATE DITTY:
FAR BETTER THAN GOLD
by Mindy Gars Dolandis
Well shiver me timbers
Ahoy Davey Jones
I’m in love with a pirate
Right down to me bones
He’s fit as a fiddle
Courageous and bold
A most precious treasure
Far better than gold
With sapphire eyes
Deep blue like the sea
And ruby red lips
Sweet honey they be
Long hair black as onyx
On top of his pate
He’s my Jolly Roger
And I’m his first mate
We sail through to sunset
When evening is near
I’m rich as a queen
Beside my buccaneer
Yon stars be like diamonds
Full moon is on high
The sea is becalmed
‘Neath a dark violet sky
Yea shiver me timbers
Ahoy Davey Jones
I’m in love with a pirate
Right down to me bones
No luckier wench
On this earth I am told
For I’ve found a treasure
Far better than gold
JENNY DUMP'D ME
[A paroditty of Leigh Hunt's "Jenny Kiss'd Me"]
Jenny dump’d me when we met,
Bolting from the store she walked in;
Time, that burglar, stole my pet
Seconds after I had clocked in.
Say I’m happy nonetheless.
Say that life has not speed-bump’d me.
Say whatever. I confess,
Jenny dump’d me.
– J. Patrick Lewis
A LIFE AT SEA
by David L. Harrison
Hear them now,
carrying on like monkeys,
climbing those ropes,
singing their ditties, off key
as gulls squabbling over handouts.
Ah, the life at sea.
Me, I’m sung out,
my bones ache,
can’t walk straight.
Traded ditties long ago
for a ditty bag.
No home behind,
no wife waiting.
Gave up all that
for a life at sea.
All I own is on my back,
or in this bag –
leather punch, needles,
twine, tape –
the rich rewards
of a life at sea.
Wind’s up,
old hull is creaking
like it knows what I know –
all that’s left
is one more day,
and one more day,
and one more day
of a life at sea.
A DITTY
by Donna JT Smith
A ditty for my love
Who’s gone so far away
I’ll sing a pretty ditty,
Doleful ditty for each day.
He’s packed his bitty ditty bag,
And headed off to sea
'Tis such a gritty pity
For so long away he’ll be.
He’ll be singing his own ditty
As he rides the fearsome blue;
But hope that we will marry when
He says, “I’m back for you!”
He’ll open up the ditty bag
To show the wedding ring
He’ll put it on my finger and
A new tune I will sing
Our ditties soon will have to change
To kitties and to spoon
To Jack Be Nimbles and the cow
That jumped over the moon
For soon the sailor ditties
And my pity ditties sung
Will change to baby ditties,
And bitty didies will be hung!
PENELOPE'S DITTY
by Catherine Flynn
A parrot named Penelope
grew restless, bored, and fluttery.
She longed to soar over the ocean blue,
not sit in a cage like a stuffed statue.
Spreading her silky feathers wide,
she caught the breeze and began to glide.
Above an island, volcanic and steamy,
she met her mate, oh so dreamy!
Now nestled on her balcony
in the lush rainforest canopy,
she primps, she preens and looks so pretty,
visits with friends, is charming and witty.
Happy to be footloose and free,
Always singing her sweet little ditty!
KING KONG SONG
by Suzy Levinson
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| King Kong (Merian C. Cooper & Ernest B. Schoedsack, 1933) |
Me gorilla and me pretty!
When me show up in the city,
all the peoples stop to stare!
BANANA ROOTY TOOTY!
Peoples screaming at my beauty!
So me bid them HOWDY DOODY
as me swingy through the air!
BANANA KONGA KINGY!
Me climb up this shiny thingy!
Look, a bird with metal wingy
want to touch my pretty hair.
Limer-ICK
by Bridget Magee
There once was a poet from Kalamazoo
Whose poetry reading got a mixed review
While performing a ditty
This lyricist got spitty
And the front row was wishing for tissue
DITTY TROUBLE
by Kristi Dee Veitenheimer
There once was a lady who wrote
short simple rhymes in a note.
Twas such a pity
that each little ditty
often got stuck in her throat.
Whenever she tried to recite one,
whether fairy tale, fable, or pun,
the words that were listed
would always get twisted,
tying her tongue in a bun.
So one day the lady decided
the beautiful words she provided,
should only be read
in somebody’s head,
so no one would then be misguided.
The lady continued to write
each night until dawn’s breaking light.
Known to be witty,
each little ditty
brought children’s loud squeals of delight.
DITTY YARD DASH
by Brenda Davis Harsham
On your marks,
get set,
dash, Ditty, go,
Ditty, sprint!
Ditty know
You're the one,
You can do it!
Ditty won!
Frankly, I think we all won—
such a scrumptious batch of ditties!
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| "Roadside Ditty" by Andrew Taylor |
How 'bout one for the road?
Take two, they're small.
Newsflash! This just in from Matt Forrest Esenwine:
I could've written something dark,
mysterious and gritty.
I could've penned a couple lines
about a little kitty.
I could've shared a country song
I wrote for Conway Twitty,
or even just one stanza
all about the Windy City.
I could have spent some time composing
such a charming ditty...
alas, I never had the chance.
It's really such a pity.
Pity shmitty! You have until Monday, February 29th to send your "ditty"-inspired ditty to TodaysLittleDitty (at) gmail (dot) com, or use the contact form in the sidebar to the right.
Alternatively, you may enter the giveaway by commenting below.
Earn an additional entry for the giveaway by contributing a poem inspired by the word "leaves" to David's Word of the Month challenge, HERE.
If you contribute a poem on Today's Little Ditty, on David's blog, and comment below you will earn three entries in total. You have until Monday, February 29th, to submit a poem here or on David's blog; comments must be received no later than Tuesday, March 1st.
The winner will be determined by Random.org and announced next Friday, March 4th, when we reveal our new Spotlight ON interview and ditty challenge.
Tabatha Yeatts also has a celebration today at The Opposite of Indifference: a poem-match extravaganza! (So happy to be included, Tabatha!)