April DMC Wrap-Up + Giveaway

Luncheon of the Boating Party, by Pierre-Auguste Renoir

“Any healthy man can go without food for two days, but not without poetry.”

                                                                ~ Charles Baudelaire

What a fabulous spread of poetry we've been enjoying this month at Today's Little Ditty!

I've loved returning to many of our mouthwatering DMC challenges for second and third helpings. Thanks to everyone who contributed poems!

As soul-satisfying as National Poetry Month is, every year I struggle to keep up with all the wonderful offerings... blogs, articles, reading, writing. I appreciate that we all need to make choices about where we spend our time, and the fact that TLD is a preferred hang out spot for many of you means so much to me. Some of you were even crazy motivated enough to write a poem each day! WOW! Though my own writing is not nearly so prolific, I'm glad at least I could serve up some inspirational appetizers.

"All you can eat ditty snacks—yum!"   Photo by James Marvin Phelps

But before I share this month's poetry smorgasbord, there's one piece of business I need to attend to. At the beginning of this month, I mentioned that I'm putting together a new ditty committee for The Best of Today's Little Ditty, Volume 2. I realized afterwards that it came out as sort of a throw-away remark and deserves more attention.

What's a "ditty committee"?

"Ditty committee" is what I call the group of individuals who help me decide which poems from our roster of challenges should appear in our next TLD anthology. (Actually, to be honest, the committee does most of the deciding. I try to keep out of it as much as possible.)

Volume 2 will include the following 2016 challenges:

• Poems about nothing (Douglas Florian)
• "Ditty"-inspired poems (David L. Harrison)
• Poems about small things (Amy Ludwig VanDerwater)
• Echo poems (Marilyn Singer)
• Persona poems (Laura Shovan)
• Unlikely hero poems (Diana Murray)
• Septercets (Jane Yolen)
• Poems for our mothers (Kenn Nesbitt)
• Poems about places of refuge and solace (Ann Rider)

Are decisions made as a group?

Yes and no. Although committee members share a common set of criteria and guidelines, each person on the committee is assigned 4-5 specific challenges to review. Poems are reviewed individually, not as a group discussion. I am the only one who sees all of the recommendations, consolidates them, and makes final decisions on which poems should appear based on overall results.

What kind of time commitment are we talking about?

The review process takes place during the month of June. Within that time frame, committee members can review challenges at their own pace. Any committee members who complete their assigned challenges and are keen to do more are encouraged to do so!

Interested?

Please contact me via email at TodaysLittleDitty (at) gmail (dot) com.

Now then, who's hungry for some poetry?

Photo by Wesley Fryer

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

Inspired to bring a poetry dish of your own? 

Hopefully it won't need much time in the oven! Add it to our April 2017 padlet by this Sunday, April 30th and I'll move it to the presentation table. You may have noticed that quite a few challenges didn't make it into the potluck. Maybe consider one of these? 

• Poem video (Sylvia Vardell and Janet Wong)
• Poems to wake Farmer McPeeper (Lori Degman)
• Poems of address (Irene Latham)
• Free verse wordplay (Nikki Grimes)
• Rhyming treehouse poem (Corey Rosen Schwartz)
• Dragon feast couplets (Penny Parker Klostermann)
• Me poems (Lee Bennett Hopkins)
• Un/requited love poems (Marcus Ewert)
• Poems about nothing (Douglas Florian)
• Echo poems (Marilyn Singer)
• Persona poems (Laura Shovan)
• Personified feeling poems (Jeannine Atkins)

Honestly, though, I'm not a picky poetry eater. Any DMC recipe you'd like to try is fine by me!  

Links to all the DMC challenges are HERE, and links to all the Spotlight ON interviews, HERE.

GIVEAWAY

Participants in this month's challenge will be automatically entered to win . . .

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.

Makes a great teacher gift!
Available for purchase at Amazon.com.

(One entry per participant, not per poem.)



Alternatively, you may enter the giveaway by commenting below. Comments must be received by Tuesday, May 2nd. 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, May 5th, when we reveal next month's spotlight interview and ditty challenge.

Good luck!

JoAnn Early Macken is offering spring tidings and this week's Poetry Friday roundup at Teaching Authors.

DMC: "Rainy" by Madison

Happy Poem in Your Pocket Day! 
          What poem are you carrying in your pocket? 

For our final featured ditty of National Poetry Month, I've chosen to share what's in my pocket today. It's a cinquain by a 3rd grade student named Madison. Not only is her poem perfectly pocket-sized, but it also suits Laura Purdie Salas's challenge to a T! (You can read more water-themed cinquains HERE.)

But there's another reason I chose this poem for today. It has nothing to do with what I'm carrying in my pocket, it has to do with what I carry in my heart—the reason I write children's poetry. If all of our children saw the world through poets' eyes and had teachers like Margaret Simon to nurture and help them express their thoughts and feelings in this way; if all of our children were given the opportunity to develop observational skills, foster compassion, and broaden their understanding of life through poetry, how could we not, as a society, be better off for it? Our world and our future are in their hands. Read more poetry by the students of Mrs. Simon's Sea at their blog.


Rainy
Cadet Blue Sky
Thunder Beating on Drums
Lightning Marching Through the Clouds
Pouring…

© 2017 by Madison, 3rd Grade


The DMC challenge for National Poetry Month is to contribute to our Ditty Potluck. Follow the guidelines for any one of the last 28 challenges, choosing from the following recipes:

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

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

Post your poem on our April 2017 padlet and be sure to indicate which challenge you are responding to.  All contributions will be included in a wrap-up celebration tomorrow, Friday, April 28th, and one lucky participant, chosen randomly, will select from the following:

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.

DMC: "Joan of Arc" by Tabatha Yeatts

In April 2015, Kwame Alexander challenged us to write one of his favorite forms of poetry—the clerihew. For a form that was invented in the late 19th century, it feels much more contemporary than that. These short biographical poems are a great way to lighten the mood and poke fun at just about anyone! Today, Tabatha Yeatts shows us how it's done.


JOAN OF ARC

Joan of Arc
Had a glorious bark
And a mighty fighty bite
So she ended alight

© 2017 Tabatha Yeatts. All rights reserved.


The DMC challenge for National Poetry Month is to contribute to our Ditty Potluck. Follow the guidelines for any one of the last 28 challenges, choosing from the following recipes:

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

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

Post your poem on our April 2017 padlet and be sure to indicate which challenge you are responding to.  All contributions will be included in a wrap-up celebration this Friday, April 28th, and one lucky participant, chosen randomly, will select from the following:

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.

DMC: "Return of Your Waistline" by Bridget Magee

It's nice to see that Kenn Nesbitt's visit in October 2016 is still inspiring poems for our mothers. Thanks to Bridget Magee for this one.


RETURN OF YOUR WAISTLINE

You had a baby
and another baby
and another baby
and another baby
and another baby
and another baby
and another baby
and another baby
and another baby
and then ME!

I was the end of the line,
your youngest,
the return of your waistline.

But you were my beginning,
my origin,
my reason for grinning.

50 years later I am indebted,
you've forgiven me
for all I have regretted.

© 2017 Bridget Magee. All rights reserved.


The DMC challenge for National Poetry Month is to contribute to our Ditty Potluck. Follow the guidelines for any one of the last 28 challenges, choosing from the following recipes:

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

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

Post your poem on our April 2017 padlet and be sure to indicate which challenge you are responding to.  All contributions will be included in a wrap-up celebration this Friday, April 28th, and one lucky participant, chosen randomly, will select from the following:

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.

DMC: "Shrek" by Mindy Gars Dolandis

In November 2014, Bob Raczka challenged us to write haiku from the the point of view of our favorite monsters. Given last Friday's post, it seems appropriate to follow up with a monster-themed haiku, don't you think?


SHREK

Big, ugly ogre 

is not who I am inside

Fiona sees love

© 2017 Mindy Gars Dolandis. All rights reserved.


The DMC challenge for National Poetry Month is to contribute to our Ditty Potluck. Follow the guidelines for any one of the last 28 challenges, choosing from the following recipes:

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

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

Post your poem on our April 2017 padlet and be sure to indicate which challenge you are responding to.  All contributions will be included in a wrap-up celebration this Friday, April 28th, and one lucky participant, chosen randomly, will select from the following:

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.

DMC: "Dear Sir Roly-Poly" by Damon Dean

In February 2015, David Elliott challenged us to write letter poems to a bird, animal, or other object of our choice.  He suggested we research our topic, no matter how familiar we were with it, in order to bring a little-known fact or unique angle to our work. Here is Damon Dean's terrific response to that challenge. You'll also find it in The Best of Today's Little Ditty: 2014-2015. Come back tomorrow to see what David has been up to lately!


Dear Sir Roly-Poly,

I thank you for your inquiry
     about your pedigree.
Regretfully, appearances
     belie your family tree.

I've turned most every leaf and stone.
     My research seems to say—
you're not a bug at all! Not
     in the "insect" sort of way.

Instead you are crustacean!
     (Your kin are water-bound,
so how you came to live on land—
     that fact I've not yet found.)

Some further facts are needed. More
     ancestry should be followed.
But meanwhile I should caution you—
     don't let yourself be swallowed.

Your rolling-up ability
     ("conglobulation" skill)
could cause some sickly creature to
     mistake you for a pill.

Sincerely,
Professor O. Possum

© 2015 Damon Dean. All rights reserved.


The DMC challenge for National Poetry Month is to contribute to our Ditty Potluck. Follow the guidelines for any one of the last 28 challenges, choosing from the following recipes:

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

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

Post your poem on our April 2017 padlet and be sure to indicate which challenge you are responding to.  All contributions will be included in a wrap-up celebration on Friday, April 28th, and one lucky participant, chosen randomly, will select from the following:

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.

DMC: "scape moth" by Jone Rush MacCulloch

In March of 2015, Margarita Engle issued a tanka challenge. Jone Rush MacCulloch combined that challenge with a National Poetry Month project she's collaborating on with nonfiction author and photographer, Christy Peterson. Click HERE for more information and to see a stunning photograph of the scape moth.


SCAPE MOTH

scape moth
in the flowering meadow
fern-like antennae
translucent wings, a gold collar
looks deceive; a bitter meal

© 2017 Jone Rush MacCulloch. All rights reserved.


The DMC challenge for National Poetry Month is to contribute to our Ditty Potluck. Follow the guidelines for any one of the last 28 challenges, choosing from the following recipes:

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

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

Post your poem on our April 2017 padlet and be sure to indicate which challenge you are responding to.  All contributions will be included in a wrap-up celebration on Friday, April 28th, and one lucky participant, chosen randomly, will select from the following:

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.

DMC: "Just a Little Ditty" by Rebekah Hoeft

When I posted David L. Harrison's poem yesterday, I mentioned that no one's brought a poem to the potluck based on his challenge yet. In February 2016, David challenged us to write poems inspired by the word "ditty." Right on cue, Rebekah Hoeft responded with this pretty little ditty.


JUST A LITTLE DITTY

Some may claim their love in stanzas,
Eighty-paged extravaganzas;
Bet their darlings won't remember
What was written come December.

My way differs oh so slightly:
Verses few that trip so lightly;
Little ditties stick so nicely,
State my cause just so precisely.

© 2017 Rebekah Hoeft. All rights reserved.


The DMC challenge for National Poetry Month is to contribute to our Ditty Potluck. Follow the guidelines for any one of the last 28 challenges, choosing from the following recipes:

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

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

Post your poem on our April 2017 padlet and be sure to indicate which challenge you are responding to.  All contributions will be included in a wrap-up celebration on Friday, April 28th, and one lucky participant, chosen randomly, will select from the following:

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.

DMC: "Moon Nest" by David L. Harrison

David L. Harrison was our spotlight author in February 2016, when we featured his book Now You See Them, Now You Don't: Poems about Creatures that Hide (Charlesbridge, 2016). It seems fitting that he should write a poem about the nesting moon—something we might otherwise have missed. The poem also fits in beautifully with Amy Ludwig VanDerwater's "Small as a Chickadee" challenge: "Write a poem about something small, an animal or an object you see every day and do not usually give much thought."

No one's brought a poem to the potluck based on David's challenge yet. Any takers? By the way, David also holds monthly challenges at his blog. You should check it out!


MOON NEST

During your serene nightly journey
to sooth the mischief left by your cousin,
you pause to visit my hackberry tree.

I understand that you can’t stay.
Other lives need your attention.
Yet on this night the moon herself
chose to nest in my hackberry tree,
beam me gifts of the moon mother,
bring me peace, awe, delight,
leave me the magical stuff of dreams.

© 2017 David L. Harrison. All rights reserved.

The DMC challenge for National Poetry Month is to contribute to our Ditty Potluck. Follow the guidelines for any one of the last 28 challenges, choosing from the following recipes:

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

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

Post your poem on our April 2017 padlet and be sure to indicate which challenge you are responding to.  All contributions will be included in a wrap-up celebration on Friday, April 28th, and one lucky participant, chosen randomly, will select from the following:

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.

DMC: "The Passionate Stallion to His Mare" by B.J. Lee

In July of 2014, Tamera Will Wissinger challenged us to write parody or tribute poems. Here's the fabulous poem B.J. Lee contributed, based on "The Passionate Shepherd to His Love" by Christopher Marlowe. You'll also find it in The Best of Today's Little Ditty: 2014-2015. Come back tomorrow to see what Tamera has been up to lately!


The Passionate Stallion to His Mare

Come live with me and be my mare
and we will every pleasure share.
I'll save my treats and give you all
the apples when they start to fall.

And we will graze in glorious grass,
and I'll not let a moment pass
when I am not as close to you
as I can be through chomp and chew.

We'll share the stable past Duck's pond,
and there we'll strengthen our deep bond.
I'll give you first dibs on the hay
and I will never say thee neigh.

So if this life seems good to you,
then bid your former life adieu.
And if you smell love in the air,
come live with me and be my mare.

© 2012 B.J. Lee. All rights reserved.


The DMC challenge for National Poetry Month is to contribute to our Ditty Potluck. Follow the guidelines for any one of the last 28 challenges, choosing from the following recipes:

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

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

Post your poem on our April 2017 padlet and be sure to indicate which challenge you are responding to.  All contributions will be included in a wrap-up celebration on Friday, April 28th, and one lucky participant, chosen randomly, will select from the following:

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.

DMC: "Dictionary" by Jessica Bigi

In September 2016, Jane Yolen challenged us to write a poem that features reading or writing in the form of a septercet. It's a form she invented that has three-line stanzas (as many as you like), each line with seven syllables.


DICTIONARY

Rocket-shouter of Knowledge
Alphabet laces looping
Reading-coasters of learning

© 2017 Jessica Bigi. All rights reserved.


The DMC challenge for National Poetry Month is to contribute to our Ditty Potluck. Follow the guidelines for any one of the last 28 challenges, choosing from the following recipes:

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

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

Post your poem on our April 2017 padlet and be sure to indicate which challenge you are responding to.  All contributions will be included in a wrap-up celebration on Friday, April 28th, and one lucky participant, chosen randomly, will select from the following:

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.

DMC: "Twins" by George Heidenrich

For obvious reasons, Sylvia Vardell and Janet Wong's challenge to create a poem video was not well-suited for the pages of The Best of Today's Little Ditty: 2014-2015. Despite being such a unique and interesting challenge, the combination of summer vacations and technical difficulties meant that it also didn't get a huge response. My dad was one of the few folks who did respond, overcoming many technological obstacles in order to do so. Three years later, I'm still not sure if he succeeded because of relentless determination or because of his love for me, but I'm proud and grateful nonetheless. In honor of his (80th!) birthday today, I'd like to share "TWINS" as our first daily ditty in April. I wonder if anyone else might contribute a poem video to our potluck this month?

 

TWINS

The sleeping dreamers and the dreaming sleepers
pass through the same portal into the gray twilight.
One is excited, the other, not.
Whether they find their destiny depends
not on their diligence, but upon their imagination.
Destiny is what you make of it: to one, a pleasure,
the other, a nightmare.
Attitudes matter.

© 2012 George Heidenrich. All rights reserved.

The DMC challenge for National Poetry Month is to contribute to our Ditty Potluck. Follow the guidelines for any one of the last 28 challenges, choosing from the following recipes:

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

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

Post your poem on our April 2017 padlet and be sure to indicate which challenge you are responding to.  All contributions will be included in a wrap-up celebration on Friday, April 28th, and one lucky participant, chosen randomly, will select from the following:

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.

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.