Thursday, February 27, 2020

February DMC Wrap-Up Celebration + Giveaway


MonikaP via pixabay

At the beginning of this month, Buffy Silverman challenged us to write a poem using combined or invented words. She offered up a recipe that involved combining nouns and verbs to create new adjectives, as she did in On a Snow Melting Day: Seeking Signs of Spring.


With nature as our test kitchen, how could we go wrong? 

tumblr.tastefullyoffensive.com

We added our ingredients one by one, mixing and stirring . . . 

"The cook" by Harry Whittier Frees

whipping up our words until they held their own . . .

"Barker was Busy in the Kitchen" by Harry Whittier Frees

the perfect amount of sweetness in each and every bite-sized poem.

ddraw at freepik

No doubt you will find something to your taste.

"A hungry bunch" by Harry Whittier Frees


Many thanks to everyone who participated, and especially to Buffy for cooking up such a satisfying challenge!

Scroll through the poems below, or for best viewing, CLICK HERE.

Made with Padlet

Feeling inspired?

If so, you have one more day (until Saturday, February 29th) to write a poem using combined or invented words. Post your poem on our February 2020 padlet and I will add it to the wrap-up presentation.


Participants in this month's challenge will automatically be entered to win a signed copy of On a Snow-Melting Day: Seeking Signs of Spring by Buffy Silverman (Millbrook Press, 2020). One entry per participant, not per poem.


Alternatively, you may enter the giveaway by commenting below or sending an email to TodaysLittleDitty (at) gmail (dot) com with the subject "snow-melting giveaway." Comments and emails must be received by Tuesday, March 3rd. If you contribute a poem and comment below, you will receive two entries in total. The winner will be chosen randomly and announced next Friday, March 6th, when we reveal our next Spotlight ON interview and DMC challenge!


Karen Edmisten is sharing a beautiful poem by Jane Hirshfield about the "extra day" we are blessed with this month. Join her for this week's Poetry Friday roundup.



DMC: "Surf's Up!" by Dianne Moritz




SURF'S UP!

It’s a foam-splashing, wave-crashing, sea-thrashing day.
It’s a cold-battling, board-straddling, arm-paddling day.
So grab your wet-suit and be on your way.
Hurl in the curl cuz the surf’s up today!

© 2020 by Dianne Moritz. All rights reserved.



Buffy Silverman has challenged us to write a poem that uses combined or invented words. Click HERE for more details and to read this month's Spotlight ON interview.

Post your poem on our February 2020 padlet. All contributions will be included in a wrap-up celebration on Friday, February 28th, and one lucky participant will win a personalized copy of her nonfiction poetry picture book from Millbrook Press:






Wednesday, February 26, 2020

DMC: "Strangers No More" by Janet Clare Fagal




STRANGERS NO MORE

The wave-dancing, endless crashing
water music welcomes me
to the sun-blistering,
crazy-quilted beach.
Where towel-unfurling placement is an art,
and undertow-racing, deep-hole digging children
scream f o r e v e r. . . . . . . . . . . . .
Their voices carried off by ocean breezes,
drowned out by seagull-screeching songs.
Where eager bathers dodge the sea-foamy shore,
and summer-heat's magic becomes a healing balm.
Where strangers share their bits of sand-tinged tapestries,
tip-toeing around with care.
 

© 2020 by Janet Clare Fagal. All rights reserved.


Buffy Silverman has challenged us to write a poem that uses combined or invented words. Click HERE for more details and to read this month's Spotlight ON interview.

Post your poem on our February 2020 padlet. All contributions will be included in a wrap-up celebration this Friday, February 28th, and one lucky participant will win a personalized copy of her nonfiction poetry picture book from Millbrook Press:






Tuesday, February 25, 2020

DMC: "The Open Door" by Brenda Davis Harsham




THE OPEN DOOR

A brown cardboard package
ker-thumps on my porch.

The open door
creates a cascade.
Icicles scatter-shatter.
Squirrel-tail twitches
before tiny toes flee.
Brown birds heckle and hang
on twig-twanging holly branches.
Rabbits munch ice-crusted clover,
small, round eyes fixed. On me.

I give the cold package a shake.
And a tilt. Bump-whump.
My nose doesn’t quite freeze.

Inside, I slit packing tape,
but some part of me
remains outside
as if my soul is part hound
and the universe has shouted

“Squirrel!”

© 2020 by Brenda Davis Harsham. All rights reserved.



Buffy Silverman has challenged us to write a poem that uses combined or invented words. Click HERE for more details and to read this month's Spotlight ON interview.

Post your poem on our February 2020 padlet. All contributions will be included in a wrap-up celebration this Friday, February 28th, and one lucky participant will win a personalized copy of her nonfiction poetry picture book from Millbrook Press:






Monday, February 24, 2020

DMC: "Maltese at Six O'Clock" by Mindy Gars Dolandis




MALTESE AT SIX O'CLOCK

Beneath a sun-peaching sky
mini Marshmallow stroll-patroller
surveys his territory
yippy-yapping at all trespassers
secures dominion over
his home, yard, and grass-kissed sidewalk
           
© 2020 by Mindy Gars Dolandis. All rights reserved.



Buffy Silverman has challenged us to write a poem that uses combined or invented words. Click HERE for more details and to read this month's Spotlight ON interview.

Post your poem on our February 2020 padlet. All contributions will be included in a wrap-up celebration this Friday, February 28th, and one lucky participant will win a personalized copy of her nonfiction poetry picture book from Millbrook Press:






Thursday, February 20, 2020

Classroom Connections Encore! with Patrice Vecchione



Last Friday was an important day in the kidlit blogging community—the 2019 CYBILS (Children's and Young Adult Bloggers' Literary Awards) winners were announced

For the poetry category, selection committee members were faced with the nearly impossible task of judging poetry collections for young children alongside edgy young adult verse novels. Not fair at all. But on the bright side, the finalists for this category were all well-deserving:

  • Shout, by Laurie Halse Anderson

Two of these finalists were featured last year on Today's Little Ditty—Soccerverse and Ink Knows No Borders. I would have been thrilled if either of them won the CYBILS award for poetry, and wouldn't you know, one of them did!


 
to Patrice Vecchione and Alyssa Raymond 
for Ink Knows No Borders: Poems of the Immigrant and Refugee Experience

Because of the recent recognition, I thought it might be a good time to republish my interview with Patrice Vecchione about how Ink Knows No Borders can be used in the classroom. (You can find Elizabeth Steinglass's Classroom Connections interview HERE.)




TODAY'S READ

Ink Knows No Borders: Poems of the Immigrant and Refugee Experience

Patrice Vecchione and Alyssa Raymond, Editors

Triangle Square/Seven Stories Press (March 12, 2019)
ISBN: 978-1609809072

For high school and up

Purchase at Amazon.com
Purchase at Barnes & Noble
Purchase via Indiebound.org





SYNOPSIS

A collection of sixty-four poems by contemporary poets who come from around the world that shares the experience of first- and second-generation young adult immigrants and refugees. Whether it’s cultural and language differences, homesickness, social exclusion, racism, stereotyping, or questions of identity, the Dreamers, immigrants, and refugee poets included here encourage readers to honor their roots as well as explore new paths, offering empathy and hope. Many of the struggles described are faced by young people everywhere: isolation, self-doubt, confusion, and emotional dislocation. But also joy, discovery, safety, and family.

Contributors include Elizabeth Acevedo, Samira Ahmed, Kaveh Akbar, Eavan Boland, Chen Chen, Safia Elhillo, Martín Espada, Carlos Andrés Gómez, Joseph O. Legaspi, Ada Limón, Emtithal Mahmoud, Bao Phi, Alberto Ríos, Erika L. Sánchez, Gary Soto, Chrysanthemum Tran, Ocean Vuong, Javier Zamora . . . and many others.


A PEEK INSIDE

self-portrait with no flag

i pledge allegiance to my
homies      to my mother’s
small & cool palms     to
the gap between my brother’s
two front teeth      & to
my grandmother’s good brown
hands       good strong brown
hands gathering my bare feet
in her lap

i pledge allegiance    to the
group text      i pledge allegiance
to laughter & to all the boys
i have a crush on      i pledge
allegiance to my spearmint plant
to my split ends      to my grandfather’s
brain & gray left eye

i come from two failed countries
& i give them back      i pledge
allegiance to no land    no border
cut by force to draw blood    i pledge
allegiance to no government    no
collection of white men carving up
the map with their pens

i choose the table at the waffle house
with all my loved ones crowded
into the booth     i choose the shining
dark of our faces through a thin sheet
of smoke     glowing dark of our faces
slick under layers of sweat     i choose
the world we make with our living
refusing to be unmade by what surrounds
us      i choose us gathered at the lakeside
the light glinting off the water & our
laughing teeth     & along the living
dark of our hair    & this is my only country

  - by Safia Elhillo


© 2019, from Ink Knows No Borders: Poems of the Immigrant and Refugee Experience (Triangle Square). Used by permission.


ABOUT THE EDITOR


Poet, nonfiction writer, educator and artist Patrice Vecchione has edited several highly acclaimed anthologies for children, young adults and adults including (Henry Holt) Truth & Life, which was named one of the best children’s books by School Library Journal and Faith & Doubt, named a Best Book for Young Adults by the American Library Association. She’s the author of Writing and the Spiritual Life (McGraw-Hill) and Step into Nature: Nurturing Imagination and Spirit in Everyday Life (Beyond Words/Atria), as well as two collections of poetry. For many years, Patrice has taught poetry and creative writing to young people through her program: "The Heart of the Word: Poetry & the Imagination.” She is also a columnist for her local daily paper, the Monterey Herald, and has published essays on children and poetry. About her, Adrienne Rich said, “Patrice Vecchione is one of those steady yet vibrant, serious and passionate temperaments who continually replenish our sense of communal creativity. In my country of possibility, she and people like her would be nationally honored figures.”


CLASSROOM CONNECTIONS

Why is bringing poetry into the classroom important?

Poetry is nearly another language within any language—it welcomes contradictions, partial thoughts, phrases instead of whole sentences; it asks questions and doesn’t need an answer. Poems welcome our confusion and tawdriness, our elation and despair. They are accepting of lies as well as truths. You can take liberty with language when writing a poem and embrace a sense of freedom. Through writing poems you’ll discover you know more than you knew you knew! Poems can show us the essence of a people, the heart of the matter unlike any other form of written expression. Not only is poetry important in the classroom but bringing professional poets is, so that students may interact with people who live their life by this art form, who love language and thrive on creating poems out of it.

How might your book be incorporated into an educational curriculum?

View (and download) the curriculum guide HERE.

Can you suggest a specific classroom exercise related to your book?

Read Safia Elhillo’s poem above, “self-portrait with no flag,” and consider what you pledge your allegiance to. Another word for “allegiance" is “loyalty.” To what are you loyal? What and who do you choose? What country is your “only country”?

What is a simple, practical tip for teachers when it comes to incorporating poetry in the classroom?

When it comes to poetry, there is never a single “right answer.” There are only many “write answers.”

Can you recount a specific instance of when poetry impacted a student or group of students in a positive way?

There’s a look that’s come over a student, a look to which I devote my life, when a kid is staring off into the middle distance, watching, as it were, for the words to arrive, and then the light turns on, and it’s visible. The head bows down to the paper and the pen takes off at high-speed. When a student finds their own answer to one of life’s minor or major conundrums or is inspired to write as they never have been, oh, now that’s something!


CONNECT WITH PATRICE VECCHIONE

Website: patricevecchione.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PatriceVecchioneAuthor/
Twitter: @VecchioneAuthor
Instagram: patricevecchione

Look for My Shouting, Shattered, Whispering Voice: A Guide to Writing Poetry and Speaking Your Truth (Seven Stories Press) in spring of 2020.


UPDATE: My Shouting, Shattered, Whispering Voice will be released on March 31st, but is currently available for pre-order at Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble


* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *


I know February is the shortest month, but this is ridiculous! There's only one week left to go before our wrap-up celebration for Buffy Silverman's DMC challenge. Have you posted your word invention poem on the padlet yet? This week's featured daily ditties were by Cindy Breedlove, Rebekah Hoeft, and B.J. Lee.

Join Cheriee Weichel at Library Matters for this week's Poetry Friday roundup and a wonderful interview with Avis Harley. It's the second in Cheriee's series of interviews with Vancouver children's poets.

DMC: "Coot-Spooky" by B.J. Lee




COOT-SPOOKY

A moss-hung bayou
has a coot-spooky feel.

It's a gator-gliding,
limpkin-screaming,
cypress-kneeling deal,

where snakes a-sliding,
raptors hiding
give it squeal appeal.

© 2020 by B.J. Lee. All rights reserved.



Kylen Louanne


Buffy Silverman has challenged us to write a poem that uses combined or invented words. Click HERE for more details and to read this month's Spotlight ON interview.

Post your poem on our February 2020 padlet. All contributions will be included in a wrap-up celebration on Friday, February 28th, and one lucky participant will win a personalized copy of her nonfiction poetry picture book from Millbrook Press:






Wednesday, February 19, 2020

DMC: "Winter Walking" by Rebekah Hoeft




WINTER WALKING

On winter walks
on crisp cold mornings
my favorite part
of frozen gravel paths
is finding
rumpled edges
and shallow ditches
where skims of
clouded ice
hang waiting for
my ice-searching
puddle-crunching
foot to
smash crash crinkle crackle crunch through
to the hollow space beneath.

© 2020 by Rebekah Hoeft. All rights reserved.



Image by Rene Schue from Pixabay


Buffy Silverman has challenged us to write a poem that uses combined or invented words. Click HERE for more details and to read this month's Spotlight ON interview.

Post your poem on our February 2020 padlet. All contributions will be included in a wrap-up celebration on Friday, February 28th, and one lucky participant will win a personalized copy of her nonfiction poetry picture book from Millbrook Press:






Tuesday, February 18, 2020

DMC: "In a White Kingdom" by Cindy Breedlove




IN A WHITE KINGDOM

A tree-sparkling palace
was built overnight.
So armed with my camera
I took in the sight.
Booted and bundled,
snow-crunching my way,
I captured the beauty
God sent me that day.

© 2020 by Cindy Breedlove. All rights reserved.



Cindy Breedlove


Buffy Silverman has challenged us to write a poem that uses combined or invented words. Click HERE for more details and to read this month's Spotlight ON interview.

Post your poem on our February 2020 padlet. All contributions will be included in a wrap-up celebration on Friday, February 28th, and one lucky participant will win a personalized copy of her nonfiction poetry picture book from Millbrook Press:






Monday, February 17, 2020

Monday Musing: Presidents' Day



President Barack Obama greets a young visitor in the Oval Office,
Feb. 5, 2010. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)


Associate yourself with men of good quality 
if you esteem your own reputation; 
for 'tis better to be alone than in bad company.

– George Washington



Thursday, February 13, 2020

DMC: "A Springtime Affair" by Michelle Heidenrich Barnes


T.Kiya


In honor of Valentine's Day, I thought I might try a love poem for Buffy Silverman's challenge. It's not a typical love poem, perhaps, but I've learned it's best to let my muse have her way.


A SPRINGTIME AFFAIR

Nature and I have an understanding.
She goes about her day—
          bees pollen-bobbing for their deliveries
          clouds sky-surfing at high tide
          roses petal-kissing on the bush I neglected to trim last season
And I pretend to go about mine—
          words clinging to the page
          like Spanish moss on blossom-ready branches
          holding on to hope despite a stiff, chilling breeze.

© 2020 Michelle Heidenrich Barnes. All rights reserved.


I shared another poem about a chance springtime rendezvous this past Monday. It's well worth a read if you missed it.


Buffy Silverman has challenged us to write a poem that uses combined or invented words. Click HERE for more details and to read this month's Spotlight ON interview. Our featured daily ditties this week included poems by 4th grader Breighlynn, Tabatha Yeatts, and Janice Scully. All poems on our February 2020 padlet will be included in a wrap-up celebration on Friday, February 28th. One lucky participant will win a personalized copy of On a Snow-Melting Day: Seeking Signs of Spring (Millbrook Press, 2020).
Linda Baie is our Poetry Friday roundup matchmaker today. You'll find love poems (and other offerings) at TeacherDance—take one home that touches your heart.






DMC: "Winter Storm" by Janice Scully




WINTER STORM

Snowflakes bumping
gliding, crashing
down in heavy
storm-silence.

Such bough-drooping
bark-mottling
random artistry!
Watch as it leaves lacy
crystal hieroglyphs
everywhere.


© 2020 by Janice Scully. All rights reserved.


Buffy Silverman has challenged us to write a poem that uses combined or invented words. Click HERE for more details and to read this month's Spotlight ON interview.

Post your poem on our February 2020 padlet. All contributions will be included in a wrap-up celebration on Friday, February 28th, and one lucky participant will win a personalized copy of her nonfiction poetry picture book from Millbrook Press:






Wednesday, February 12, 2020

DMC: "Pups at Play" by Tabatha Yeatts




PUPS AT PLAY

A wee nose-nudge
in a sleeping ear
    earns a grrreeting...
    but she's still sleeping!

He tries a paw-prod,
a leg-chew, a collar-chomp—
    what will it take
    to get her up?

Finally,
she snarl-rolls to her feet,
    Stop gnawing on me
    while I'm trying to sleep!


He tears down the hall
with her fast on his heels—
    playtime has started
    with a roar and retreat!

© 2020 by Tabatha Yeatts. All rights reserved.



Buffy Silverman has challenged us to write a poem that uses combined or invented words. Click HERE for more details and to read this month's Spotlight ON interview.

Post your poem on our February 2020 padlet. All contributions will be included in a wrap-up celebration on Friday, February 28th, and one lucky participant will win a personalized copy of her nonfiction poetry picture book from Millbrook Press:






Tuesday, February 11, 2020

DMC: "An Umbrella-Floating Day" by Breighlynn




AN UMBRELLA-FLOATING DAY

An umbrella-floating,
wind-howling,
color-observing day.

It is a sun-shining,
hawk-squawking,
umbrella-looking day.

Yesterday was a rain-falling,
person-frowning,
cloud-covering day.

Tomorrow will be a book-reading,
computer-typing,
person-silent day.

I want to be a queen-smiling,
sun-shining,
notebook-writing friend.

© 2020 by Breighlynn (4th grade) in Mrs. Simon's class. 

All rights reserved.

(Mrs. Simon wrote a poem about a rainy day as well! Read it on our February 2020 padlet.)


Buffy Silverman has challenged us to write a poem that uses combined or invented words. Click HERE for more details and to read this month's Spotlight ON interview.

Post your poem on our February 2020 padlet. All contributions will be included in a wrap-up celebration on Friday, February 28th, and one lucky participant will win a personalized copy of her nonfiction poetry picture book from Millbrook Press:






Monday, February 10, 2020

Monday Musing: Just-In-Time Poetry



Blackbirds fill the sky at Lake Anna State Park, Virginia


On Wednesday I will be turning 53 years old.

Although I have not spent the better part of my life out-of-doors, this poem arrived in a Writer's Almanac newsletter last week and was just what I needed to hear.


Blackbirds

by Julie Cadwallader Staub

I am 52 years old, and have spent

truly the better part

of my life out-of-doors

but yesterday I heard a new sound above my head

a rustling, ruffling quietness in the spring air

and when I turned my face upward

I saw a flock of blackbirds

rounding a curve I didn’t know was there

and the sound was simply all those wings,

all those feathers against air, against gravity

and such a beautiful winning:

the whole flock taking a long, wide turn

as if of one body and one mind.

How do they do that?

Read the ending HERE.



Thursday, February 6, 2020

Spotlight on Buffy Silverman + DMC Challenge


BUFFY SILVERMAN


It's true, we just turned the page to February. But in my neck of the woods temps are back in the 70s, trees are beginning to flower, and look what else arrived this week—a new book to warm my heart.

ON A SNOW-MELTING DAY: SEEKING SIGNS OF SPRING
Millbrook Press (Lerner Publishing Group), February 4, 2020
ISBN: 978-1541578135, available for a discounted price at Lerner Books.

I'm tickled blossom-pink to introduce my friend and critique partner Buffy Silverman for our first Spotlight ON interview of 2020! Buffy is the author of more than 90 nonfiction books for young readers, featuring topics from angel sharks to alligators, and Mars to monster trucks. Children's poetry fans might be more familiar with her nature-inspired poems that pop up regularly in anthologies, popular children's magazines, and, I'm pleased to say, here on Today's Little Ditty.

In her role as a TLD contributor, Buffy has taught readers much about how connecting with nature can make us better poets. She spends time outdoors every day, occasionally with a dragonfly perched on her nose, but more often accompanied by her dog and camera. There’s always something new to discover living near woods and a lake in rural Michigan, and taking photographs encourages her to slow down and watch closely—a skill that every good poet must cultivate. I'm delighted to include several of Buffy's outstanding photographs in today's post. (The hardest part was deciding which ones to share!)

One of the qualities I find most remarkable about Buffy's writing is her ability to transform those carefully observed small details into poetry, finding the perfect word in every instance, even when it's one she's had to invent herself. Buffy is adept at wordplay alchemy—something she has practiced from the age of 10 years old. On a Snow-Melting Day: Seeking Signs of Spring is a superb example of what kind of enchantment can come of it.

Back cover: On a Snow Melting Day (Millbrook Press, 2020)
Described in a starred Kirkus review as “Crocus-poking, mud-luscious enjoyment,” Buffy describes On a Snow-Melting Day as "an extended poem about all the changes that occur as winter retreats and spring begins. It features chickadees sipping from icicles, spotted salamanders marching over melting snow, and insects warming themselves in skunk cabbage." (Read more from Buffy's interview with Raven Howell here.)

Vibrant photographs paired with playful rhyming verse will captivate young children, making this book an ideal read-aloud for home, preschool, or library story time. For grades 1-3, teachers will appreciate this book as a mentor text because of the expressive sensory language. They can also make use of the back matter (an informational author's note, glossary, and further reading) to extend and enhance interactive learning. The book is "perfect," according to the School Library Journal, "for answering nature-related questions or crafting lesson plans."

Why not try this simple idea for the classroom:

"Reading poetry to your students can be a gift," explains Buffy in an interview at Two Writing Teachers. "Let them enjoy listening to a poem each day, without asking for discussion or analysis. Then read the poem again and ask students to remember one or two favorite words. Write those words in a class word bank, and encourage your students to borrow them for their own writing."

And what should they write? How about "drip-droppy, slip-sloppy" poems in response to Buffy's DMC challenge this month! You'll find detailed instructions later on in this interview.

Let's begin, as always, with five favorites.


Buffy Silverman
FAVORITE COLOR:
Pale green, the color of fresh leaves in spring.

FAVORITE SMELL:
The scent of soil after a rainstorm. There’s a word for that smell—petrichor—which comes from the Greek words petra ( meaning stone) and ichor (a fluid flowing in the veins of the gods.)

FAVORITE SOUND:
The flute-like song of a wood thrush on an evening in May.

FAVORITE GRADE IN SCHOOL:
In fourth grade, Mrs. Rasanen had a reel-to-reel tape player and played a song for us that went, “Hey ho, what do you know, friction makes heat. Hey ho, what do you know, we’re making heat!” Combining music with science was pretty radical at the time (and that might be why I can still sing the tune while rubbing my hands together!) Fourth grade was also the year we took a class trip to Sturbridge Village.

Buffy, the 4th grade outlaw, with some of her classmates at Sturbridge Village

FAVORITE TEACHER IN SCHOOL:
Mr. Kirkpatrick, eleventh grade English. I was often unengaged in classes in junior high and high school. But Mr. Kirpatrick told me that I was a good writer—and he took the time to show me how to make my writing stronger. His words and attention set me on a different path. Understanding how to revise what I wrote helped turn me into a successful student in college and a writer today.


As a child you were a tree climber, an insect finder, and a word collector, yet you didn’t begin thinking of yourself as a writer until graduate school. When did you realize you were a poet?

I’m not sure I think of myself as a poet. Let’s just say I’m someone who enjoys writing poetry. (The first definition in the dictionary of a poet is someone who writes poetry, so perhaps someday soon I will embrace the term.) I’ve always loved playing with language, and I think that led me to dabbling in poetry.


Your bibliography, especially for the nonfiction educational market, is quite impressive! What do you enjoy most about writing for that market?

For me there have been two great benefits to writing for the educational market. The first is having tight writing deadlines. I am a procrastinator, and deadlines force me to be organized and to keep writing. The second is learning about a wide range of subjects, including many that I had little knowledge of before diving head first into the research. I now understand why airplanes have flaps, big rigs have tails, and how to bring a hot air balloon down to earth!

Browse these and other topics on Buffy Silverman's bookshelf.

How does poetry fit into the big picture of your writing career?

While I’ve enjoyed having writing assignments and learning many, many interesting tidbits, I’m trying to shift the focus of my writing to more narrative and poetic approaches to nonfiction (and maybe even some fiction, too!) I am drawn to writing about the natural world, which I think is a subject that inspires poetry.

Buffy Silverman
Buffy Silverman
Buffy Silverman


What I love most about On a Snow-Melting Day is your fun, evocative language. Your description of the change of season is factual, yet never trite or dull. Can you tell us more about your process of writing the book?

On a Snow-Melting Day started as an idea for StoryStorm 2018, in response to a blog post that encouraged writers to pay attention to what’s around them. Here’s what I wrote in my notebook:

It was a drip droppy
                        slip sloppy
                        snow melting day

Then I made a few notes about mist rising in the air, boots sinking in the slush, puddles growing on the lake. My notes continued: Is there a story here? Or just a poem? 

Initially I thought the image in my head was more of a poem than a story idea, but about a month later I had a writing day with my critique group and decided to explore the idea more fully. I thought about what different animals might be doing on a series of snow-melting days and tried to paint a picture of the landscape getting closer and closer to spring. I pictured the woods, lake, and marshy areas that are outside my door.

Buffy Silverman
(
featured in On a Snow-Melting Day)
Buffy Silverman
(
featured in On a Snow-Melting Day)

I managed to finish a draft in one day (which is not usual for me. Peer pressure is wonderful! Go write with your friends!) Of course, I revised that draft many times.


The photographs complement your spare text so perfectly. Considering that this book is not traditionally illustrated, were you involved in the process of selecting the photos or was your expressive writing all the in-house designers needed?

Allison Juda, the Millbrook editor assigned to my manuscript, chose the photographs and masterfully designed the book with little input from me. I offered Allison several of my own photographs that I thought might work with my manuscript and was thrilled when she decided to include three of them. There was one part of my text that Allison didn’t understand and she wondered if I should change: Icicles drip. Chickadees sip.

From On a Snow-Melting Day: Seeking Signs of Spring (Milbrook Press, 2020)



















But she was fine about keeping that couplet once I sent her links to photos of chickadees sipping icicles. (Who knew they did this? Not me until I started searching for an animal that drinks from icicles.) I believe the chickadee-sipping photo used in the book was one that I had sent to Allison. I also suggested which flowers to include in the final spread (hepatica) to make sure we had one of the earliest blooming wildflowers.


Please share a favorite spread from On a Snow-Melting Day and tell us why it's a favorite.

How can I decide on only one?! If I must choose, I’ll go with this one: On a plink-plonking, marsh-mucking, duck-dabbling day.


From On a Snow-Melting Day: Seeking Signs of Spring (Milbrook Press, 2020)




















Those phrases are fun to say, I love pussy willows, and I have a nice memory of walking with my daughter at the Kellogg Bird Sanctuary when I took the photo of the handsome pair of mallards.


Let’s imagine for the moment that On a Snow-Melting Day is part of a four-book series (which it should be!) describing each of the seasonal transitions in a similar fashion. What is one thing you might have observed for each of the other books in the series?

There’s so much wonder in the world as the seasons change. Here are a few favorite sights: frogs staking out their territories and serenading their sweethearts as spring turns to summer; praying mantises laying their foamy egg cases on tall grasses when summer turns to fall; huge flocks of sandhill cranes gathering to dance and raise a ruckus as fall turns to winter. Whether or not those critters would fit neatly into a rhyme scheme is another question! 


Buffy Silverman in her childhood happy place
If you had all the world's children in one room, what would you tell them?

Go outside (every day if you can!) Look, listen, feel, and smell nature. Let yourself fall in love with our world.















Finally, what you have chosen as this month's ditty challenge?

I had great fun combining and inventing words when writing On a Snow-Melting Day. I think TLD readers would enjoy this too. Here’s a recipe to follow, or strike out on your own.

INGREDIENTS:

Five or more nouns (choose plants/animals/weather-related nouns, or anything else you observe outside.)

Five or more verbs that are actions your nouns might take and/or sounds that your nouns might make.

INSTRUCTIONS: 

1.    Take a walk or look out a window to gather the ingredients listed above.  

2.    Combine each noun-verb pair to create an adjective. (These are some that I used in Snow-Melting Day: hawk-squawking, marsh-mucking, paw-sinking, duck-dabbling.)

3.    Play with your combinations to create different adjectives (paw-dabbling? duck-squawking? marsh-sinking?)

4.    Write a poem that celebrates the place you observed, using at least two of your noun-verb combinations or other invented words.


Grab your notebook and trail mix, my friends—
we're going word-wandering!

Buffy's woods-walking companion Dakota is expert at sniffing out new words!

But before setting off, please help me thank Buffy—and Dakota—for being here today (though I've been told Dakota is only in it for the kibble). Buffy, on the other hand, is looking forward to reading your poems and is offering a personalized copy of On a Snow-Melting Day: Seeking Signs of Spring to one lucky DMC participant! 

(Winner to be selected randomly at the end of the month.)

HOW TO PARTICIPATE:


Post your poem with invented words on our February 2020 padlet. 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. I don't typically give authors advance notice, so 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." All of the poems will be included in a wrap-up celebration on the last Friday of the month—February 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 if necessary.

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.

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Thanks to Laura Purdie Salas for hosting this week's Poetry Friday roundup. She is writing poems in a variety of unusual places this year and today shares a poem written at the orchestra.