Spotlight on Today's Little Ditty + DMC Challenge

THE DITTY OF THE MONTH CLUB

Whaaat? No spotlight interview?

Nope, not this month. But there's still plenty to celebrate around here, so don't go anywhere. (I'll have a DMC challenge for you in just a bit.)


Not only is it National Poetry Month, but on Monday . . .

Evan Long

Today's Little Ditty turns four years old!

Available for purchase at Amazon.com

Sooooo... it occurred to me that I never had a proper launch party for The Best of Today's Little Ditty: 2014-2015.


Yes, the book was released five months ago.


Yes, it's time to start thinking about the next volume. (Drop me a line if you want to be on my new Ditty Committee.)


Fine. Maybe I'm just in the mood for cupcakes. Do you have a problem with that?

Andy Li

I'll need quite a few. More than 150 poets have contributed to 28 DMC challenges over the past three years, plus classrooms, plus blog readers who haven't submitted poems yet (but hopefully will one day). You're all invited.

Pardon me for a moment while I crunch some numbers . . .

Holy ditty, Batman! More than 850 poems have been contributed so far!

Now excuse me while I conduct some cupcake research— dark chocolate with toasted coconut, mmmmm....  What's your favorite flavor?  It's on me.


Speaking of flavors . . .

I've noticed there are basically two flavors of DMC challenges:

1. There's the "here's a word or subject—go!" challenge, like David Harrison's "ditty" challenge or Amy Ludwig VanDerwater's "small as a chickadee" challenge.

2. There's the "try this (new) poetry form" challenge, like Joyce Sidman's deeper wisdom poems or Margarita Engle's tanka challenge.

Occasionally we get a challenge that combines the two, like Laura Purdie Salas's water-inspired cinquains or Bob Raczka's monster-inspired haiku. Or who could forget Penny Parker Klostermann's "dragon's feast" challenge (a progressive poem comprised of couplets)? What a wild ride that was! That one might need a category all to itself.


Which kind of challenge do you like best?

It's a little hard to gauge which challenge was most popular since TLD's readership has grown over time, but in terms of numbers of contributors and numbers of poems, Jane's Yolen's septercet challenge comes out on top with 46 participants and 54 poems. Other buzzworthy challenges include Nikki Grimes's free verse/wordplay challenge, Douglas Florian's poems about nothing, J. Patrick Lewis's zeno challenge, and last month's ode poem challenge from Helen Frost.

Ready for this month's DMC challenge?

Here it is: 

Write a poem following the guidelines of any one of the past 28 challenges.

That's right, we're celebrating National Poetry Month and TLD's birthday with a Ditty Potluck!

The table is set. YOU decide what dittilicious delicacy you'd like to share with the rest of us, choosing from the following recipes:

Sebastian Dooris

Click HERE for an alphabetical list of all the DMC challenges.

Click HERE for an alphabetical list of all the Spotlight interviews.


Please note: When you post your poem on the April 2017 padlet, be sure to indicate which challenge you're responding to.

This month I'll be sharing daily ditties from the padlet, of course, but I'll also be featuring a few from The Best of TLD: 2014-2015, and touching base with a couple of Spotlight authors from 2014-2015 to see what they're up to lately.



You didn't think I'd forget some kind of extra incentive, did you?

Of course not.


At the end of the month, one participant (chosen randomly) will get their just desserts:

Option 1: A set of 8 copies of The Best of Today's Little Ditty: 2014-2015 to use with a classroom or extracurricular group.

Option 2: One copy of The Best of Today's Little Ditty, plus a $20 gift card to purchase a poetry book(s) of your choice.

Option 3: A $25 gift card if you already have all the copies of The Best of TLD you need.

Ready? It's BYOD time! 

(Bring Your Own Ditty)

From "Eating Poetry" by Mark Strand, Academy of American Poets

HOW TO PARTICIPATE:

Post your poem on our April 2017 padlet. (Be sure to mention which challenge you are responding to.) Stop by any time during the month to add your work or to check out what others are contributing.

By posting on the padlet, you are granting me permission to share your poem on Today's Little Ditty.  Some poems will be featured as daily ditties, though authors may not be given advanced notice. Subscribe to the blog if you'd like to keep tabs. You can do that in the sidebar to the right where it says "Follow TLD by Email." As always, all of the poems will be included in a wrap-up celebration on the last Friday of the month—April 28th for our current challenge.

TEACHERS, it's great when students get involved! Ditty of the Month Club challenges are wonderful opportunities to learn about working poets and authors while having fun with poetry prompts. Thank you for spreading the word! For children under 13, please read my COPPA compliance statement in the sidebar to the right.

FIRST-TIMERS (those who have never contributed to a ditty challenge before), in addition to posting your work on the padlet, please send your name and email address to TodaysLittleDitty (at) gmail (dot) com. That way I'll be able to contact you for possible inclusion in future Best of Today's Little Ditty anthologies.

BLOGGERS, thank you for publishing your poems on your own blogs– I love that!  Please let me know about it, so I can share your post! Also remember to include your poem (or a direct link to your post) on the padlet in order to be included in the wrap-up celebration and end-of-month giveaway.

Clare K

Now have a cupcake. They're going fast.

Many thanks to everyone who contributed an ode poem to last month's ditty challenge! (Tabatha Yeatt's "Ode to a Tablecloth" came in fairly late in the day, but is definitely worth going back to the wrap-up presentation to have a read.) Without doubt, it was an exercise that reaped marvelous results!

Random.org has determined that a personalized copy of When My Sister Started Kissing by Helen Frost will go to:

BRIDGET MAGEE

Congratulations, Bridget!

Irene Latham is awash with poetry this month. Her poem-a-day project ARTSPEAK! Portraits reveals the voice within 30 different artistic works. In addition, she organizes the annual Kidlitophere Progressive Poem. (Day 4 was posted here earlier this week.) Join Irene for Day 7, along with this week's Poetry Friday roundup, at Live Your Poem.

If you're looking for other creative ways to celebrate National Poetry Month, Jama Rattigan is your go-to for NPM festivites at Alphabet Soup.