Friday, March 31, 2017

March DMC Wrap-Up + Giveaway


"Parigi - Ode" by alfonsobussolin

There is something about you that makes me pick up my pen and write.
                            – Avijeet Das


At the beginning of this month, Helen Frost challenged us to write her version of an ode poem:
Choose an object (a seashell, a hairbrush, a bird nest, a rolling pin). It should not be anything symbolic (such as a doll, a wedding ring, or a flag). Write five lines about the object, using a different sense in each line (sight, sound, touch, taste, smell). Then ask the object a question, listen for its answer, and write the question, the answer, or both.

The poet in me loves all the excitement surrounding challenges like this one.

"Ode to Joy" by Robert Couse-Baker
A new form for the poetry toolbox? Yes, please!  It's incredible how much freedom can be found within strictly-defined structure. In the case of this month's challenge, while I imagined there would be a wide variety of thoughtful and heartfelt poems in response, I never imagined how a form like this one could accommodate humor, rhyme, or even merge with another poetry form (the acrostic). Many thanks for the lesson in creative calisthenics!


The administrator in me, however, finds new form challenges to be challenging in another way.

"Ode to an Air Conditioner" by Brian Donovan
It's difficult enough deciding which poems get featured (I always wish I could share more), but when I also must consider if a poem has satisfied all the criteria of a new form, that makes my job even harder. Are the rules being met, bent, or broken? Not all poets stick to the rules of a challenge, and that's as it should be! You should always feel free to modify a DMC challenge to suit your muse.


But is it fair to feature poems that stretch the rules when there are others on the padlet that do not? Sometimes I do share these "deviant" poems as daily ditties; more often, I don't. My main objective is to feature poems that show a way into the challenge for others who may be struggling, though I also strive to feature a variety of poets, fresh perspectives, and differing styles. Sometimes I even try to link the poems in a given week by theme or show some kind of progression from day to day... even if I'm the only one who notices. I realize that I tend to overthink stuff like this, but if you have thoughts, I'm curious to hear them. Feel free to email or leave a comment.

"Ode to Light" by Alex Mertzanis


In the meantime, please know how grateful I am to everyone who contributed an ode to this month's challenge, and most especially to Helen Frost for giving us a new form to ponder.



Scroll through the poems below. Or, for best viewing, click HERE.





Made with Padlet


Inspired to write your own ode poem?

Add it to our March 2017 padlet by the end of today (Friday, March 31st) to be included in the wrap-up presentation.





Participants in this month's challenge will automatically be entered to win a personalized copy of WHEN MY SISTER STARTED KISSING by Helen Frost (Farrar, Straus and Giroux/Macmillan, 2017) One entry per participant, not per poem.

Alternatively, you may enter the giveaway by commenting below. Comments must be received by Tuesday, April 4th. If you contribute a poem and comment below you will receive two entries in total.

The winner will be determined by Random.org and announced next Friday, April 7th, when we reveal next month's ditty challenge.

Good luck!



The Poem Farm is having a birthday! On the eve of National Poetry Month, let's join Amy Ludwig VanDerwater in raising our pens and glasses in celebration.  Happy Poetry Friday!


Thursday, March 30, 2017

DMC: "Ode to a Broken Umbrella" by Irene Latham





  © 2017 Irene Latham. All rights reserved.


Helen Frost has challenged us to write an ode poem this month, following these instructions:   
Choose an object (a seashell, a hairbrush, a bird nest, a rolling pin). It should not be anything symbolic (such as a doll, a wedding ring, or a flag). Write five lines about the object, using a different sense in each line (sight, sound, touch, taste, smell). Then ask the object a question, listen for its answer, and write the question, the answer, or both.
Click HERE to read her sample poem, "Ode to a River."

Post your poem on our March 2017 padlet. All contributions will be included in a wrap-up celebration tomorrow, Friday, March 31st, and one lucky participant will win a personalized copy of her latest novel-in-poems from Farrar, Straus, and Giroux/Macmillan:






Wednesday, March 29, 2017

DMC: "Ode to a Seashell" by Janie Lazo





ODE TO A SEASHELL

I see you hiding there—a  shimmer in the waves beneath my feet
I wriggle my fingers deep into the wet sand and feel the whole of you
Deep ridges—smooth curves—A spiral of mystery waiting 

     to be discovered
I lift you to my ear and hear the rushing song of the sea that lives

     within you
I breathe in your briny goodness taste the salt spray on my lips
I wonder—Who will call you home?
Toss me back and we shall see.

© 2017 Janie Lazo. All rights reserved.



Helen Frost has challenged us to write an ode poem this month, following these instructions:  
Choose an object (a seashell, a hairbrush, a bird nest, a rolling pin). It should not be anything symbolic (such as a doll, a wedding ring, or a flag). Write five lines about the object, using a different sense in each line (sight, sound, touch, taste, smell). Then ask the object a question, listen for its answer, and write the question, the answer, or both.
Click HERE to read her sample poem, "Ode to a River."

Post your poem on our March 2017 padlet. All contributions will be included in a wrap-up celebration this Friday, March 31st, and one lucky participant will win a personalized copy of her latest novel-in-poems from Farrar, Straus, and Giroux/Macmillan:






Tuesday, March 28, 2017

DMC: "Ode to a Conch" by Mindy Gars Dolandis




ODE TO A CONCH

Beautiful conch, Neptune’s blushing sunset charm,
perfumed by saline sand and seaweed. I lift your
cool, smooth alabaster to my ear and you
sing a whooshing symphony, a
melodious banquet that feeds my soul. 
What mysteries do you hold? The
history of eons. 


© 2017 Mindy Gars Dolandis. All rights reserved.


Helen Frost has challenged us to write an ode poem this month, following these instructions: 
Choose an object (a seashell, a hairbrush, a bird nest, a rolling pin). It should not be anything symbolic (such as a doll, a wedding ring, or a flag). Write five lines about the object, using a different sense in each line (sight, sound, touch, taste, smell). Then ask the object a question, listen for its answer, and write the question, the answer, or both.
Click HERE to read her sample poem, "Ode to a River."

Post your poem on our March 2017 padlet. All contributions will be included in a wrap-up celebration this Friday, March 31st, and one lucky participant will win a personalized copy of her latest novel-in-poems from Farrar, Straus, and Giroux/Macmillan:






Monday, March 27, 2017

DMC: "Ode to a Pink Dress" by Karen Eastlund




ODE TO A PINK DRESS

Sweet as cotton candy, you gathered me into a cloud 
     of pink confection
Where sheer and taffeta rustled lavishly
Each seam scented with anticipation
I slid my fingers around your slippery satin sash
My girlish twirls blossomed like peonies

You remember me after all these years?
Like silk stockings in a parade of bobby socks.


© 2017 Karen Eastlund. All rights reserved.


Helen Frost has challenged us to write an ode poem this month, following these instructions:  
Choose an object (a seashell, a hairbrush, a bird nest, a rolling pin). It should not be anything symbolic (such as a doll, a wedding ring, or a flag). Write five lines about the object, using a different sense in each line (sight, sound, touch, taste, smell). Then ask the object a question, listen for its answer, and write the question, the answer, or both.
Click HERE to read her sample poem, "Ode to a River."

Post your poem on our March 2017 padlet. All contributions will be included in a wrap-up celebration this Friday, March 31st, and one lucky participant will win a personalized copy of her latest novel-in-poems from Farrar, Straus, and Giroux/Macmillan:






Thursday, March 23, 2017

DMC: "Ode to an Object" by Heidi Mordhorst




It's taken some effort to keep up with the blog while I've been out of town this week. So for Poetry Friday, enjoy this extra little ditty from Helen Frost's ode poem challenge:


ODE TO AN OBJECT

I see you squatting solidly on the far side of the verb.
You wait patiently for action:  will it be bringing,
singing, ringing?  You might be licked, lifted, lit.
I may pronounce you struck, sipped or sifted.
   Oh—perhaps that is not patience,
   but resignation, even fear?  Object, do not fear.
There’s not much I can do without you.


© 2017 Heidi Mordhorst. All rights reserved.


Other featured poems this week were "Ode to Wind" by Linda Baie, "Ode to One Knitting Needle" by Laura Purdie Salas, "Ode to a Tissue" by Donna JT Smith, and "Ode to a Hyacinth Glass" by Diane Mayr. Only one week left to submit your poem in response to Helen Frost's challenge!
Choose an object (a seashell, a hairbrush, a bird nest, a rolling pin). It should not be anything symbolic (such as a doll, a wedding ring, or a flag). Write five lines about the object, using a different sense in each line (sight, sound, touch, taste, smell). Then ask the object a question, listen for its answer, and write the question, the answer, or both.
Click HERE to read her sample poem, "Ode to a River."

Post your poem on our March 2017 padlet. All contributions will be included in a wrap-up celebration next Friday, March 31st, and one lucky participant will win a personalized copy of her latest novel-in-poems from Farrar, Straus, and Giroux/Macmillan:






Join Catherine Flynn for a wonder-filled Poetry Friday roundup at Reading to the Core.







DMC: "Ode to a Hyacinth Glass" by Diane Mayr




ODE TO A HYACINTH GLASS

Once crystalline now coated
with the grime of rotted sheaths
and root hairs shed, your new bulb's 
nascent roots tickle the water
silently absorbing all it needs
to flower. Jewel tones and heady
fragrance, winter consolation.

© 2017 Diane Mayr. All rights reserved.



Helen Frost has challenged us to write an ode poem this month, following these instructions:  
Choose an object (a seashell, a hairbrush, a bird nest, a rolling pin). It should not be anything symbolic (such as a doll, a wedding ring, or a flag). Write five lines about the object, using a different sense in each line (sight, sound, touch, taste, smell). Then ask the object a question, listen for its answer, and write the question, the answer, or both.
Click HERE to read her sample poem, "Ode to a River."

Post your poem on our March 2017 padlet. All contributions will be included in a wrap-up celebration on Friday, March 31st, and one lucky participant will win a personalized copy of her latest novel-in-poems from Farrar, Straus, and Giroux/Macmillan:





Wednesday, March 22, 2017

DMC: "Ode to a Tissue" by Donna JT Smith




ODE TO A TISSUE
                      (and an acrostic)


The faintest whiff of clean, starched sheets
In white, you lie flat, stiff, well pressed, waiting as
Shaking fingertips flounder, feeling for your straight, thin edge
Silently you caress my face, no, you are quietly humming
Unduly seasoned with salt from my tears.
Eternally crumpled, rolled up in a ball, do you have any regrets?
Shush, so happy to help.

© 2017 Donna JT Smith. All rights reserved.



Helen Frost has challenged us to write an ode poem this month, following these instructions: 
Choose an object (a seashell, a hairbrush, a bird nest, a rolling pin). It should not be anything symbolic (such as a doll, a wedding ring, or a flag). Write five lines about the object, using a different sense in each line (sight, sound, touch, taste, smell). Then ask the object a question, listen for its answer, and write the question, the answer, or both.
Click HERE to read her sample poem, "Ode to a River."

Post your poem on our March 2017 padlet. All contributions will be included in a wrap-up celebration on Friday, March 31st, and one lucky participant will win a personalized copy of her latest novel-in-poems from Farrar, Straus, and Giroux/Macmillan:





Tuesday, March 21, 2017

DMC: "Ode to One Knitting Needle" by Laura Purdie Salas




ODE TO ONE KNITTING NEEDLE

You taste sharp and tangy, some metal weapon,
but you dissolve to chimney smoke coziness
Your sleek, pearlescent point
tap dances with your twin,
turns your rhythm into fuzzy ribbons of warmth

Needle, why do you never rest?
Are you afraid to be alone?

© 2017 Laura Purdie Salas. All rights reserved.


Helen Frost has challenged us to write an ode poem this month, following these instructions: 
Choose an object (a seashell, a hairbrush, a bird nest, a rolling pin). It should not be anything symbolic (such as a doll, a wedding ring, or a flag). Write five lines about the object, using a different sense in each line (sight, sound, touch, taste, smell). Then ask the object a question, listen for its answer, and write the question, the answer, or both.
Click HERE to read her sample poem, "Ode to a River."

Post your poem on our March 2017 padlet. All contributions will be included in a wrap-up celebration on Friday, March 31st, and one lucky participant will win a personalized copy of her latest novel-in-poems from Farrar, Straus, and Giroux/Macmillan:





Monday, March 20, 2017

DMC: "Ode to Wind" by Linda Baie





ODE TO WIND

I feel your power when fireplace ashes stir;
smoke puffed in stings my nose.
Window-tapping of the tree branches
accompanies dog growls and cat yowls.
I shiver-run for the news, taste snow in the wind.
Why not the breeze of yesterday?
Winter conceit.

© 2017 Linda Baie. All rights reserved.



Helen Frost has challenged us to write an ode poem this month, following these instructions: 
Choose an object (a seashell, a hairbrush, a bird nest, a rolling pin). It should not be anything symbolic (such as a doll, a wedding ring, or a flag). Write five lines about the object, using a different sense in each line (sight, sound, touch, taste, smell). Then ask the object a question, listen for its answer, and write the question, the answer, or both.
Click HERE to read her sample poem, "Ode to a River."

Post your poem on our March 2017 padlet. All contributions will be included in a wrap-up celebration on Friday, March 31st, and one lucky participant will win a personalized copy of her latest novel-in-poems from Farrar, Straus, and Giroux/Macmillan:






Thursday, March 16, 2017

Carrie Clickard: Limerick Writers Anonymous




Happy St. Paddy's Day! 

I'm afraid you won't find a single pint of beer (green or otherwise) at Today's Little Ditty, but raise your glass if you know what you will find . . .


Photo: Sean an Scuab


Yeah, y'ar right!  With a touch of Leprechaun magic, you can be transported to the 16 posts that live at Limerick Alley.

It's been over a year since we've entertained any new ones, but as luck would have it, Carrie Clickard is here to satisfy your thirst for this looks-easy-but-isn't poetry form. She's filled her paddy wagon with a ditty-load of 'em, so let's join her for the ride, shall we?  It'll be grand!


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Welcome to another Rhyme Crime Investigation

... and the first official meeting of Limerick Writers Anonymous.


There’s a rustle of shuffling feet and a surreptitious slurping of coffee as the meeting comes to order.  Stepping up to a rickety podium in front of the thicket of folding chairs, a determined but ill at ease woman clears her throat and says: “Hi, my name is Carrie, and I’m a limerick writer.”

What? No chorus of comradely hello’s back?  Sigh.  It’s hard to find anyone who’ll stand up and proudly declare themselves a limerick writer—which is a pity for a poetic form that can count Elizabeth I, Thomas Aquinas, Aristophanes, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Rudyard Kipling and Shakespeare among its practitioners. A swift search of YouTube will also offer up limericks recited by Garrison Keillor, Michael Palin, Christopher Hitchens and even a NASA astronaut.

No, really—one of the questions on the NASA application asked astronaut candidates to describe their selection process in a tweet, a haiku or a limerick.  If you watch the video you'll discover his limerick is a bit of a metrical shambles, but as a poet, how cool is it knowing that there’s one part of the astronaut’s application process we could ACE? I’m trading in my comfy sweats for a spacesuit.



So why has this once-proud five line AABBA form ended up in the doggerel house?  It might have just a bit to do with content.  Morris Bishop expressed the problem wittily in a limerick of his own:
The limerick is furtive and mean;
You must keep her in close quarantine,
Or she sneaks to the slums
And promptly becomes
Disorderly, drunk, and obscene.

It’s true.  The limericks everyone seems to remember have lines that end in Nantucket. (No, no, I’m not going to repeat it. Look it up if you must.)  But it’s not just bad behavior that gets limerick writers sneered at, it’s bad SCANSION. Time and again you find limericks limping along with scraggly line length, verb inversions, forced meter a regular rogue’s gallery of Rhyme Crime perpetrators.  You’d think with only five lines it would be easy-peasy to keep rhyme crisp, clean and correct. But like a certain bishop in Hong Kong, you’d be wrong.

Researching for this post I found a surprising number of clunkers from poets whose pen I’m not worthy to touch. Like:
There is a poor sneak called Rossetti

As a painter with many kicks met he

With more as a man

But sometimes he ran

And that saved the rear of Rossetti.

                                                       Dante Gabriel Rossetti
and
There was a professor named Chesterton
Who went for a walk with his best shirt on
Being hungry he ate it
but lived to regret it
and ruined his life for his digestion.

                                                       W S Gilbert

Ouch.  I could add a dozen more examples, but if you’ve been following along with the Rhyme Crime posts, you’re probably already diagnosing the problems and fixing them in your head.  “Ate it” and “regret it” don’t rhyme, even in a Cockney accent.  “Kicks met he” is an inversion you wouldn’t get away with today.  The lines aren’t consistent in syllable length.  And whether “best shirt on” and digestion rhyme is debatable.  So if two such noted poets can slip up, can we hope to do better?  We can but try, as my English teacher used to say.




Don't miss a beat

Back in the day, limericks most often used anapestic meter  – two short syllables followed by a long one – three feet in lines 1, 2 and 5, and only two  feet in lines 3 and 4. So:
(A)     Da da dum  da da dum  da da dum

(A)     Da da dum  da da dum  da da dum

(B)     Da da dum  da da dum

(B)     Da da dum  da da dum

(A)     Da da dum  da da dum  da da dum
Anapestic verse was a favorite of Dr. Seuss, and thus holds a special place in my heart, but if it isn’t your cup of tea, that’s ok.  Modern limericks can be written in your meter-of-choice but the rules still apply.  Rhythm must be consistent, unforced and you need to have a uniform number of beats in rhyming lines. If you have to put the em-PHAS-is on the wrong syl-LA-ble, or swallow a syllable to make things fit, go back and rewrite. You can do better.

Now before you throw out the baby with the bathwater, remember we’re ruling out weak word choices, not the joy of wordplay. The fun Ogden Nash has in this verse is enough to make any critic overlook the one extra beat.
A wonderful bird is the pelican,
His bill can hold more than his beli-can.
He can take in his beak
Food enough for a week
But I’m damned if I see how the heli-can.

The same can be said for Mark Twain’s clever abbreviated verse.  Be sure you read  “Co.” as “company” and do the same at the end of lines 2 and 5 or you’ll miss the joke.
A man hired by John Smith and Co.
Loudly declared that he’d tho.
Men that he saw
Dumping dirt by the door
The drivers, therefore, didn’t do.  *
Funny enough to forgive those clunky lines 3 and 4? You decide.

* Michelle here: for Twain-challenged folk like myself, read company/thump any/dump any.


Wait, is it form or funny that’s more important?

Excellent question.
This limerick is simply sublime
It’s flawless in meter and rhyme.
As for wit, pun or thought?
It expresses but naught

and to write it took acres of time.

                                                       Anonymous

Like any poem, a good limerick will communicate with the reader, expressing a meaning, a feeling, or both.  Whether your intent is jovial, snide, silly, bawdy, romantic or educational, if you don’t get your point across, all the reader ends up with is a collection of syllables.  You’ve got five lines and a handful of syllables to do it in. Use them wisely.


Scare your readers:
Each night father fills me with dread

when he sits on the foot of my bed;

I’d not mind that he speaks

in vile gibbers and squeaks

but for seventeen years he's been dead.

                                                       Edward Gorey
Teach them something:
It filled Galileo with mirth

To watch his two rocks fall to Earth.
He gladly proclaimed,

"Their rates are the same,
And quite independent of girth!

                                                       American Physical Society contest entry
Break their hearts:
My life has become a motif

of daily compassion and grief,

of watching the ends

of lovers and friends

whose candles have been far too brief.

                         Lawrence Schimel 
                         From … Measure for Measure: An Anthology of Poetic Metres,
                         edited by Annie Finch and Alexandra Oliver:

Leave them laughing:
A young girl at college, Miss Breeze,

Weighted down by B.A.s and Lit.D's,

Collapsed from the strain,

Said her doctor, "It's plain

You are killing yourself — by degrees!"

                                                       Anonymous

And we’re doing all this, why?

Clearly some good hard work and poetry chops go into limerick writing, when you’re doing it right. What are you going to do with them now that you’ve got those little witty jewels polished to perfection?  Send them out into the world to earn a living, naturally.

Try the Saturday Evening Post Limerick Contest.  Six times a year the Saturday Evening Post holds a limerick contest based on one of their iconic cover illustrations.  Winners are published in the print magazine, online and win a small cash prize.  A select few talented runners up get published on the website too, like someone we all know and love here at Today’s Little Ditty, Ms. Michelle Heidenrich Barnes.  You can read her fabulous limerick on the Saturday Evening Post site here and learn about how to enter the contest yourself here.

What about The Washington Post’s Style Invitational weekly contest that rotates between headlines, punkus (haikus with puns), limericks and other fun forms?

And, drumroll please, if you happen to be both a limerick fan and a word nerd like me, here’s an irresistible opportunity: The Omnificent English Dictionary in Limerick Form.  Uh huh, you heard that right.  Their goal is to “write at least one limerick for each meaning of each and every word in the English language. Our best limericks will clearly define their words in a humorous or interesting way, although some may provide more entertainment than definition, or vice versa.”  They’re currently working on Aa through Ge, and expect to be completed in 2076.



I am so going to do this.  Maybe I’ll start with E for “Equations” like the brainiac who turned this mathematical equation into a limerick:


It’s not a trick.  There IS a limerick in all those number.  Here’s a little clue: Think of words we might use in place of numbers, for example people often say a “dozen” eggs instead of twelve.

Give up? (I certainly did.) So, here's the answer:

A dozen, a gross, and a score

Plus three times the square root of four

Divided by seven

Plus five times eleven

Is nine squared and not a bit more.

                                                       Jon Saxton

That’s some wicked clever thinking and some pretty mad limerick skills as well.  Feeling inspired? What are you still doing here?  Go on, get out there and WRITE.

Maestro? A little St. Patrick’s Day exit music please …




Cheers, Carrie!  I had a whale of a good time!

Read Carrie's other Rhyme Crime posts on Today's Little Ditty:


Carrie L. Clickard is an internationally published author and poet.  Her first picture book, VICTRICIA MALICIA, debuted in 2012 from Flashlight Press. Forthcoming books include MAGIC FOR SALE (Holiday House, 2017), DUMPLING DREAMS (Simon and Schuster 2017) and THOMAS JEFFERSON & THE MAMMOTH HUNT (Simon and Schuster, 2018). Her poetry and short stories have appeared in numerous anthologies and periodicals including Spider, Muse, Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine, Havok, Myriad Lands, Clubhouse, Spellbound, Penumbra, Haiku of the Dead, Underneath the Juniper Tree, Inchoate Echoes, and The Brisling Tide.  


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I sure have been enjoying all the ode poems inspired by Helen Frost's DMC challenge! Featured poems this week included "Ode to a Dewdrop" by LeeAnn Blankenship, "Ode to My Coffee Cup" by Rebekah Hoeft, "Ode to Grapefruit!" by Cindy Breedlove, and "Ode to My Mother's Popcorn Pan" by Doraine Bennett. You can read Kat Apel's and Carol Varsalona's odes at their blogs today, and enjoy student odes by Jone MacCulloch's Poetry Rocks group at Check It Out. View all of the ode poems contributed so far (and add your own) on our March 2017 padlet. 



Robyn Hood Black has her own St. Patrick's/Poetry Friday party going at Life on the Deckle Edge. See you there for this week's roundup!






DMC: "Ode to My Mother's Popcorn Pan" by Doraine Bennett




ODE TO MY MOTHER'S POPCORN PAN

As you warm to the flame,
she holds your tented lid against your heavy frame
and scrapes your weight back and forth
until tender, sweet corn bursts inside.
The scent of butter calls us to the kitchen.
Do you remember the salty pleasure

of popcorn on Saturday night?

© 2017 Doraine Bennett. All rights reserved.


Helen Frost has challenged us to write an ode poem this month, following these instructions:  
Choose an object (a seashell, a hairbrush, a bird nest, a rolling pin). It should not be anything symbolic (such as a doll, a wedding ring, or a flag). Write five lines about the object, using a different sense in each line (sight, sound, touch, taste, smell). Then ask the object a question, listen for its answer, and write the question, the answer, or both.
Click HERE to read her sample poem, "Ode to a River."

Post your poem on our March 2017 padlet. All contributions will be included in a wrap-up celebration on Friday, March 31st, and one lucky participant will win a personalized copy of her latest novel-in-poems from Farrar, Straus, and Giroux/Macmillan:




Wednesday, March 15, 2017

DMC: "Ode to Grapefruit!" by Cindy Breedlove




ODE TO GRAPEFRUIT!
 


I picked you for your pinkish tone
but pucker at your taste, and groan,
wiping juice off of my face,
inhaling tartness, but embrace
the whispered promise in my ear:
two sizes smaller in a year.

© 2017 Cindy Breedlove. All rights reserved.



Helen Frost has challenged us to write an ode poem this month, following these instructions: 
Choose an object (a seashell, a hairbrush, a bird nest, a rolling pin). It should not be anything symbolic (such as a doll, a wedding ring, or a flag). Write five lines about the object, using a different sense in each line (sight, sound, touch, taste, smell). Then ask the object a question, listen for its answer, and write the question, the answer, or both. 
Click HERE to read her sample poem, "Ode to a River."

Post your poem on our March 2017 padlet. All contributions will be included in a wrap-up celebration on Friday, March 31st, and one lucky participant will win a personalized copy of her latest novel-in-poems from Farrar, Straus, and Giroux/Macmillan:






Tuesday, March 14, 2017

DMC: "Ode to My Coffee Cup" by Rebekah Hoeft




ODE TO MY COFFEE CUP

In half-light, readied, steaming, pink perfect cup,
I held you, warming my palms, a balm.
Relaxed morning breath brought your waking scent;
then first soft sip, familiar to my ears—
our ritual ending in my bittersweet waking.
Why now, Coffee Cup, are you empty? Coffee Cup,
It’s because I am greedy and day is dawned;
it’s time to get up.


© 2017 Rebekah Hoeft. All rights reserved.


Helen Frost has challenged us to write an ode poem this month, following these instructions: 
Choose an object (a seashell, a hairbrush, a bird nest, a rolling pin). It should not be anything symbolic (such as a doll, a wedding ring, or a flag). Write five lines about the object, using a different sense in each line (sight, sound, touch, taste, smell). Then ask the object a question, listen for its answer, and write the question, the answer, or both.
Click HERE to read her sample poem, "Ode to a River."

Post your poem on our March 2017 padlet. All contributions will be included in a wrap-up celebration on Friday, March 31st, and one lucky participant will win a personalized copy of her latest novel-in-poems from Farrar, Straus, and Giroux/Macmillan:






Monday, March 13, 2017

DMC: "Ode to a Dewdrop" by LeeAnn Blankenship




ODE TO A DEWDROP

A crystal gem on fragile web,
You speak to early dawn
With misty hope, a fragrance clean,
And sparkles on my lawn.
You taste of freshness, cool to touch –
I wonder – must you go?
“Oh, yes! The sun is calling me –
I’ll be back tomorrow though!”


© 2017 LeeAnn Blankenship. All rights reserved.


Helen Frost has challenged us to write an ode poem this month, following these instructions:
Choose an object (a seashell, a hairbrush, a bird nest, a rolling pin). It should not be anything symbolic (such as a doll, a wedding ring, or a flag). Write five lines about the object, using a different sense in each line (sight, sound, touch, taste, smell). Then ask the object a question, listen for its answer, and write the question, the answer, or both.
Click HERE to read her sample poem, "Ode to a River."

Post your poem on our March 2017 padlet. All contributions will be included in a wrap-up celebration on Friday, March 31st, and one lucky participant will win a personalized copy of her latest novel-in-poems from Farrar, Straus, and Giroux/Macmillan:






Thursday, March 9, 2017

Poetry in Action: Lily Yeh + the Poetry Friday Roundup


Lily Yeh speaking at the 2017 Convening Culture Conference


Hello and welcome to the Poetry Friday roundup!


My intention for today was to share my takeaways from the 2017 Convening Culture conference on February 22-23, sponsored by the Florida Division of Cultural Affairs. But as I reviewed my notes and composed my thoughts, I realized that I had too much material for just one blog post. If you have time, I hope you'll visit yesterday's post— the first part of my two-day review. I feature Dr. Elif Akçali, a professor of engineering at the University of Florida whose decision to embark upon a year of saying yes led to a creative journey that profoundly changed the way she approaches her life and work. We'll call today's post "Inspiration from the Convening Culture Conference, Part II."

I love the photo at the top of the page. It brings to mind the glowing impression of Lily Yeh I was left with after her keynote presentation on day two of the conference. The conference was not one I expected to attend, nor was it a conference that I would have thought to seek out, yet it made a profound impact thanks to this slight, yet remarkable woman.

Lily Yeh
Lily Yeh is an internationally celebrated artist whose work has taken her to communities throughout the world. As founder of Barefoot Artists, Inc, she brings the transformative power of art to impoverished communities around the globe through participatory, multifaceted projects that foster community empowerment, improve the physical environment, promote economic development, and preserve indigenous art and culture.

As you might have guessed, that description came straight from her bio. Impressive, right? But let me tell you, those words are nothing compared to the impression I was left with after seeing her in person. She's a soft spoken woman, kindly, unassuming, takes up very little space... until you hear the passion behind her words, witness the reach of her healing, and see the results of her life's calling—then her aura fills the entire room. Imagine a Mother Teresa of the art world. That's Lily Yeh.


Beauty is intimately engaged with darkness, with chaos, with destruction. You need to walk into the darkness and hold it in your arms. Broken places are my canvases, people's stories are my pigments, and people's talents and imagination are the instruments.
                                                                     – Lily Yeh

Lily Yeh's calling began in 1986 with an abandoned lot in North Philadelphia that she was invited to turn into a park.

Ile Ife Park, 1986 (before...)

She was scared. She didn't have much money and was warned that the kids would destroy everything she built. But then "the call" came, so fragile and clear:
If you don't rise to the occasion, the best of you will die and the rest will not amount to anything.

After that, she was scared to be a coward! So she responded, "Yes, at least I can do something with the children." With a group of residents, mostly children, she transformed the lot into an art park with mosaic sculptures, murals, and landscaping.

Ile Ife Park, 1990 (...and after)

From there, the projects grew and multiplied. More parks were born from other vacant lots, and in 1989, The Village of the Arts and Humanities was incorporated as a non-profit organization that began offering year-round arts and educational programs. Talk about a success story!

Yet the project she talked about that touched my heart most was not so close to home. It was her transformation of a rough mass grave in Rwanda into the Rugerero 1994 Genocide Memorial.

Genocide Memorial Park, Gisenyi, Rwanda (2004 – Present)

In 1994, during a period of only 100 days from April 6 through mid-July, approximately one million Tutsi and moderate Hutu sympathizers were killed in Rwanda—the largest organized killing of human beings in the shortest period of time in modern history. Rugerero was one of the villages that was struck hardest by the brutality. By example, an extended family of 134 was reduced to only four survivors. She describes what she saw when she looked at the mass graves:
There was no poetry. There was no beauty. . . . to truly honor the dead, we have to bring beauty and to remember them in that light. . . . it has to be better.

Rather than me describing what she did, I will leave the storytelling to this eight minute movie of the Rwanda Healing Project. Poetry in action, as I like to call it.



If you missed last week's interview with Helen Frost, she's challenged us to write her version of an ode poem—a 6-7 line poem with specific instructions about structure and content:
Choose an object (a seashell, a hairbrush, a bird nest, a rolling pin). It should not be anything symbolic (such as a doll, a wedding ring, or a flag). Write five lines about the object, using a different sense in each line (sight, sound, touch, taste, smell). Then ask the object a question, listen for its answer, and write the question, the answer, or both.

I confess, I've broken the rules. My object of choice is most definitely symbolic, but I was so moved by this video, I wanted to pay tribute to what Lily Yeh accomplished. Perhaps you'll give me a pass... just this once.

Ode to a Genocide Memorial

The hammer sings the story
of ten thousand broken shards—
the stench of old bones
and hope's gritty aftertaste,
scrubbed clean by twenty thousand tears.
What question hasn't been asked 
that has an answer?

© 2017 Michelle Heidenrich Barnes. All rights reserved.

At risk of completely overwhelming you, if you are interested in hearing more about Lily Yeh, in her own voice, I found this video which covers some of what she discussed in the keynote presentation I attended.

Please accept my gift of this final quote as I send you off on your Poetry Friday rounds:
My role is to light other people's pilot lights so we shine together and we light up the horizon. 
                                                                        – Lily Yeh






Helen Frost's challenge to write her version of an ode poem is off to a great start! Three poems were featured this week in addition to my own: Brenda Davis Harsham's Ode to Wrapping Paper, Michelle Kogan's Ode to Spring Soil, and Lana Wayne Kohler's Ode to a Piano. Linda Mitchell is featuring her ode poem today at A Word Edgewise and Catherine Flynn is featuring hers at Reading to the Core. I hope you'll post your ode poem on our March 2017 padlet!