Thursday, March 26, 2020

March DMC Wrap-Up Celebration


Bennilover

Games are the most elevated form of investigation.
          – Albert Einstein


At the beginning of this month, Tabatha Yeatts challenged us to write a poem about a game (which, if you ask me, is also a pretty elevated form of investigation). She elaborated:
It could be a board game, a sport, a fictional game—any kind of game—and the narrator could be in the middle of playing it or teaching you how to play or telling how it went very wrong or the poem itself could be a game.

The Game of Life has been tough these days.

"Life" by Will Folsom


Many more Snakes than Ladders

"Snakes and Ladders" by Jacqui Brown


and plenty of Trouble and Sorry! to go around



have made some want to throw their hands up in defeat—

"You sunk my battleship!"      by Derek Gavey


It's true, finding joy these days has been no Trivial Pursuit,

"Jara vs. Trivial Pursuit" by Manuel J. Prieto

but I'm grateful for online communities like ours that are still going strong—coming together as we always do to write, listen, share, and otherwise lighten the load for one another.

It leaves me with a feeling something like this . . .

StartUpStockPhotos


Thank you to everyone who contributed a poem this month and/or supported others with comments, and special thanks to Tabatha for inspiring our month-long poetry game-a-thon!

Scroll through the poems below or CLICK HERE to open a new tab.

Made with Padlet


If you would like to write a poem about a game, visit Tabatha's spotlight interview for instructions and then click on the pink dot with the plus sign to add your poem to the padlet. While there aren't many days left in March, I'll be leaving this padlet open indefinitely, so feel free to add to it at any point in the future.


NATIONAL POETRY MONTH PREVIEW

Samantha Aikman from Mount Mansfield Union High School in Richmond, Vermont,
has been named the winner of the 2020 National Poetry Month Poster Contest for Students.

With National Poetry Month just around the corner, there are many places besides Today's Little Ditty to gather together and celebrate poetry. Many thanks to Jama Rattigan for rounding up next month's poetry projects at Jama's Alphabet Soup.

At Today's Little Ditty, I will be introducing a new series called "Lessons from the Bookshelf" where I take an in-depth look at educational books about writing poetry. Beginning Friday, April 3rd, I will focusing on My Shouting, Shattered, Whispering Voice: A Guide to Writing Poetry and Speaking Your Truth by Patrice Vecchione (Seven Stories Press, March 31, 2020). I hope you'll join me!


The winner of last week's giveaway for a signed copy of The Nest That Wren Built, by Randi Sonenshine, illustrated by Anne Hunter is . . .

MARY LEE HAHN
Congratulations, Mary Lee!

Our DMC game-a-thon coach, Tabatha Yeatts, is hosting this week's Poetry Friday roundup and sharing a beautiful, thought-provoking poem about acceptance. You'll find her keeping score at The Opposite of Indifference.



18 comments:

  1. As far as writing goes, it's been a wonderful month of extra prompts and time...it's the focus that I could use more of. But, games to the rescue! Thanks for a great month of game poems. It's been fun!

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  2. Michelle, I love how you incorporated all those game names into your post. :) Wonderful! And your NPM project sounds wonderful, too! I look forward to reading. xo

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  3. I love your post. So fun! And it looks like you have big plans for April!

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  4. Michelle, your intro with its game titles and photos was a clever idea. I have been looking through the padlet poems this week and see such a great variety of poems. I humbly submit mine with thanks for sharing it at your site.

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  5. Fantastic game show post, Michelle. What fun to read all the poems about games, from childhood on. Again, it's quite a wonderful variety. I'm looking forward to your Poetry Month of books about writing, though I bet it will add to my 'books to purchase' list! Thanks for your creativity always!

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  6. Fun and clever post -- love remembering all those games from childhood, and almost forgot how everyone was crazy about Trivial Pursuit for awhile. Adorable opening image!!

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  7. What a nice collection--and you've outdone yourself with your intro and photos, Michelle. Hmmm... maybe time to add a poem now.

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  8. This was an awesome post Michelle! Thanks for the laugh.

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  9. What a fun prompt! I loved reading everyone's game poems. I'm happy to have this space still here. Thanks!

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  10. Really fun post, really fun prompt! Thanks so much for hosting this challenge.

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  11. These are fabulous! I missed Tabatha's interview at the first of the month, but will definitely go and check it out. Now, what game should II write about--Pandemic has been popular in our house this week,

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  12. Thank you, Michelle for featuring the amazing Tabatha and her game poetry challenge. This challenge has actually been a 'game changer' for me to get back to what is really important to me...poetry and PF sharing. So thank you for that as well. And, I'm looking forward to your new series, 'Lessons from the Bookshelf'. *squeee!*

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  13. The picture of those kids at the computer screen -- that was me, when I learned that I won last week's giveaway! WOOT! I'm SO excited!

    Thank you for spotlighting Tabatha (such an amazing lady) and thank you Tabatha for just the right challenge (who knew how perfect it would be when you issued it?!?!)

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  14. It's been wonderful seeing everyone's games! 💝
    Looking forward to your "Lessons from the Bookshelf" -- great project!

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  15. Thanks again for providing such fun for us all this month - will play any game with either or both of you two any time! :0) Looking forward to next month, too. XO

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  16. Thanks to you and Tabatha for this fun challenge. I haven't thought about those afternoons with my grandmother in a long time. I love all the images in this round up, and your clever captions gave me a chuckle.

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  17. Your post is so clever, Michelle! I love the way you worked in all of those board games. I was laughing over Janie Lazo's Hide and Seek poem.

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  18. Ha!! A collection of game poems would be a big hit in a lot of houses. Love this post.

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