Five for Friday: Best Things + BIG NEWS!

"Joy of First Rain"                  Photo: Yogendra Joshi

When my kids were younger, we had a dinnertime ritual called "best things." We went around the table and each named positive things that happened to us over the course of the day. Sometimes it was a struggle to name just one; other times there were several. "This lovely dinner" was uttered a few times, though that may have been for brownie points. I'm not sure. Often the children ended with "and basically the whole day!" Can you remember the last time you had a day that was "best" from start to finish? Me neither.

Unfortunately, our dinnertime tradition has all but disappeared, but given recent unrest, perhaps it's time to bring it back. I'm probably not the only one craving positivity, so what do you say we give it a go right here?

Would you help me?
All you need to do is describe, in five words, the best thing that happened to you this week. Don't think too hard about it. It can be anything—from the smile of a stranger to something as momentous as this best thing... (drumroll please)

It's a book!  An honest to goodness book.

There are so many people to thank for helping me with this enormous undertaking. First, I had an incredible ditty committee who pored over more than 400 poems! We ended up with 75 poems in response to 13 challenges. Because I felt strongly that no one, including myself, should have their work appear in more than three challenges, a few excellent poems were necessarily left out, but I think you'll be pleased with the results nonetheless. Here are the 55 poets whose work appears in this collection.

I am profoundly grateful to Carrie Clickard whose first suggested the idea of a "best of" series, and who came to my technological rescue more than once at crunch time; to Renée LaTulippe who was with me every step of the way with her encouragement and editorial expertise; and to Michelle Kogan for a cover that surpassed all expectations! I'd also like to give a shout out to J. Patrick Lewis, Margaret Simon, and Sylvia Vardell for their wonderful blurbs on the back cover. But most of all, I owe a debt of gratitude to the 2014-2015 Spotlight authors/editors who inspired us with such terrific challenges, and to ALL OF YOU for filling my life, my blog, and this book with poetry. Thank you. I'm so proud of what we've accomplished together!

The Best of Today's Little Ditty, 2014-2015 is available 
in paperback for $9.95 or as a Kindle ebook for $5.95. 

(As of the writing of this blog post, the two avenues for purchasing are not yet linked to the same page on Amazon, but don't let that stop you from grabbing the version of your choice!)

Photo: Garry Knight

For those who would like to contribute to my Five for Friday party, please come up with a five-word ditty (plus title, if you wish) about the best thing that happened to you this week. Leave it in the comments or email it to me at TodaysLittleDitty (at) gmail (dot) com and I'll move it to the main body of the post.  Here's mine to start us off:

COUNTING MY BLESSINGS

Sitting pretty with 75 ditties!

– Michelle Heidenrich Barnes

NO SURPRISE

smiles shared with the granddaughters

– Linda Baie

A VERY SPECIAL WEEK

(Family Friends laughter ditties love)

– Jessica Bigi

FORMERLY FERAL FELINE:

Almost allowed

a belly rub

– Tabatha Yeatts

BLISS

in the wee hours,
inspiration

– Matt Forrest Esenwine

CHECKUP

Got weighed—and no change!

And to make it yin yang

WHAT?

Got weighed—and no change?

– Diane Mayr

BEAMING WITH GRATITUDE

Book bliss with the best!

– Michelle Kogan 

finding community with fellow poets

– Liz Steinglass

Son's soccer team- still undefeated!

– Corey Rosen Schwartz

SERENITY

In the company
Of poets

– Kathleen Mazurowski

At NCTE! ( that counts as five words, right? )

– Irene Latham


HE'S STILL HERE

My dad turned 102 yesterday.

– Jama Rattigan

Giving and receiving unexpected gifts. 

– Rebecca Colby

SUPER-WHOO

Moonlit fall
night owl's call

– Donna JT Smith

Found solidarity

with kidlit community

– B.J. Lee

STILL SURREAL

My poem found a family 

– Maria Marshall

MIGRATION TIME

Watching geese fly in formation.

– Jone Rush MacCulloch 

fall weather is finally here

– Kristi Dee Veitenheimer

FAN GIRL TIME

Naomi Shahib Nye—
in person!

– Buffy Silverman

Teaching my students every day.

– Ruth

(There is no such thing as a God-forsaken town)

FINGERS CROSSED

Pushed send on grant application.

– David McMullin

NOVEMBER NIGHT

biggest, brightest, beaming — heavenly supermoon

– Penny Parker Klostermann

Our tree gave us lemons!

– J.G. Annino

Sweet letter from sweet granddaughter.

– Karen Eastlund

FOUND JOY

Surprising sparks of student poetry 

– Robyn Hood Black

UNEXPECTED

Hugs from a first grader.

– Catherine Flynn

alarmless saturday
slow warm waking

– Rebekah Hoeft

Hubby's colonoscopy results are good.

LOL! TMI? How about: 

Honored to be included here!

– Teresa Robeson

FRIDAY NIGHT

Both my girls home together.

– Bridget Magee

ANGEL SMILES

Smitten by this sleeping child

– Doraine Bennett

Meeting Poetry Friday friends — joy!

– Laura Shovan

VACATION

Cleaning,
rewarded by
Consuming
Novels-in-verse.

– Carol Wilcox

We're heading into the final stretch of Ann Rider's challenge to write a poem about a place of refuge and solace. I featured my own poem this week, as well as ones by Suzy Levinson, Linda Mitchell, and Linda Baie. Post yours on our November 2016 padlet, then come back next Friday for our end-of-month wrap-up!

Brenda Davis Harsham has a beautiful tribute to Leonard Cohen for this week's Poetry Friday roundup. It's her first time hosting—why not stop by Friendly Fairy Tales and be friendly?