DMC: "Me I Hope You Hear ME" by Jessica Bigi

Me I Hope You Hear ME

Were you listening at all?
love-love-love
somewhere amidst
all of the negative
words you heard

they seemed jumbled
with every emotion

I'm trying Mom
under rivers of tears
to be just how you
want me to be

because under all
of our differences
is a love that holds us together
even now in separate worlds

you in the sky and
me on earth
like the sun and moon
being so different
yet still helping each out
 
Me are you listening?
doubting your needs
against your family's

when they're trying in their way
while you're trying in yours
so jumbled in emotions
not hearing the love

dear Me listen to all things
that seem positive

like the sun and moon
with all their differences
love holds strong
with helping hands
 
Me listen please
I admit I don't
know all life's answers

Love Me from Me

© 2018 Jessica Bigi. All rights reserved.


Click HERE to read this month's interview with Naomi Shihab Nye. Her DMC challenge is to write a letter to yourself in which you ask some questions that you don't have to answer. (Please keep in mind that your poem does not need to be in standard letter form.)

Post your poem on our September 2018 padlet. While some contributions will be featured as daily ditties this month, all contributions will be included in a wrap-up presentation on Friday, September 28th, and one lucky participant will win a personalized copy of her latest collection of poetry from Greenwillow Books:

DMC: "A Window of Many Seasons" by Jessica Bigi

A WINDOW OF MANY SEASONS

A looking glass of pages open
Into worlds unknown
Hooves of green sprout branches
With cotton flowered tails
Petals and raindrops showers
Streak down glass papers of spring 
Rumbling chug-a-choos ghostly in midnight
Flowery friendly lions pounce playfully
Greening dragons spilled across summer hillsides
Fiery tangerine kites fill October trees 
A looking glass of pages open
Into worlds unknown
Scatters of powdery footprints appear
Whose are they?
Where do they go?
Across the frozen river
Lays a village of snowy words
A looking glass of pages open
Into worlds unknown
As we rest beneath starry skies

© 2018 Jessica Bigi. All rights reserved.

Jessica Bigi

Click HERE to read this month's interview with Julie Fogliano. She has challenged us to stare out the window and write a poem about what we see. You might even consider writing something down every day for a week:

At the end of the week, read through what you wrote and write your favorite bits on a separate piece of paper. I bet there will be a poem in there somewhere… see if you can find it.  – J. F.

Leave your poem on our May 2018 padlet. While some contributions will be featured as daily ditties this month, all contributions will be included in a wrap-up celebration on Friday, May 25th, and one lucky participant will win a personalized copy of her stunning new picture book from Roaring Brook Press:

DMC: "Tee doddle dee" by Jessica Bigi

Tee doddle dee
One two three
A B C
All the way to
X Y Z
It is true
My T-rex
Likes to read
Roaring out stories
As if he were
A brassy tuba
One two three
A B C
All the way to
X Y Z
Tee doddle dee
Dud dee tee

© 2018 Jessica Bigi. All rights reserved.


Click HERE to read this month's interview with Deborah Bruss and Matt Forrest Esenwine. They've challenged us to write a poem about something you would not expect a dinosaur (or another kind of animal) to do.

Leave your poem on our April 2018 padlet. While some contributions will be featured as daily ditties this month, all contributions will be included in a wrap-up celebration on Friday, April 27th, and one lucky participant will win a personalized copy of their fun new rhyming picture book from POW! Kids:

DMC: "The Forest at Night" by Jessica Bigi

THE FOREST AT NIGHT

beneath evening skies
a million glowing eyes
blink from midnight's branches
screeches of owls
phantom wings take flight
into deep dark woods
a coyote's lonely yelp
the wind's invisible footprints
walking through the forest at night
as leaves play
tambourines
a million glowing eyes
blink from midnight's branches

© 2017 Jessica Bigi. All rights reserved.

Click HERE to read this month's interview with Carrie Clickard. Her DMC challenge is to write a poem about a person, place, or thing that spooked you as a child.

Post your poem on our October 2017 padlet. While some contributions will be featured as daily ditties this month, all contributions will be included in a wrap-up celebration on Friday, October 27th, and one lucky participant will win a personalized copy of her enchanting new picture book from Holiday House:

DMC: "Books Are Fly Traps of Knowledge" by Jessica Bigi

BOOKS ARE FLY TRAPS 
OF KNOWLEDGE

Each blank page
is sticky and gluey,
trapping each word
that the writer creates.
We the readers,
buzzing like curious flies,
becoming glued to the
pages of imaginings.

© 2017 Jessica Bigi. All rights reserved.


Click HERE to read this month's interview with Melissa Manlove, Senior Editor at Chronicle Books. Her DMC challenge is to write a poem that explores how writing (or a book) is like something else.

Post your poem on our May 2017 padlet. While some contributions will be featured as daily ditties this month, all contributions will be included in a wrap-up celebration on Friday, May 26th. Two lucky participants will win a book published by Chronicle earlier this year: LOVING VS. VIRGINIA by Patricia Hruby Powell, illustrated by Shadra Strickland, or LOVE IS by Diane Adams, illustrated by Claire Keane.

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: "Artist at Rest" by Jessica Bigi

ARTIST AT REST

Finding my peace
Through camera's lens
Yellow leafy willow
Wild purple flowers
Hums of bumblebees
Butterfly flutter wings
Clamors of geese
Rippled silver waves
Whips of green marsh
Papery birch branches
Water lilies blooming
Snowberry moth hovers
Gathering garden pollens
Finding my peace
Through camera's lens

© 2016 Jessica Bigi. All rights reserved.

Snowberry Moth, photo by Jessica Bigi

Ann Rider has challenged us to write poems about places of refuge and solace this month. Click HERE for more details.

Post your poem on our November 2016 padlet. All contributions will be included in a wrap-up celebration on Friday, November 25th, and one lucky participant will win a copy of BEFORE MORNING by Joyce Sidman, illustrated by Beth Krommes, courtesy of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Books for Young Readers.

DMC: "The Heroic Imagination" by Jessica Bigi

THE HEROIC IMAGINATION

In a faraway land

There was this great nothing
No crunching of apples
Or bubblegum popping
Giggling laughter
Not one single word
Was spoken
No stories of lands faraway
Then a scribble filled the sky
A squeaky whirl of lines
Sprouting wings of ideas
Taking to flight
Dragonflies of words
Whirling all about
Chasing them with
Wooden handled nets
Colorful sentences grew
Like wild flowers
Fields of wonderful words
Building castles across iced paper
Words like dragons
And noble knights
People started reading
These words
Each word like a song
Of a beautiful bird
In their voices
In a faraway land
You could hear stories
Crunching like apples
Letters popping like bubblegum
Giggling and laughter
In a faraway land
A story was born
Your story
My story
Our Story
And everyone

Read happily
Ever after

© 2016 Jessica Bigi. All rights reserved.


Diana Murray has challenged us to write a poem about an unlikely hero this month. Click HERE for more details.

Post your poem on our August 2016 padlet. All contributions will be included in a wrap-up celebration on Friday, August 26th, and one lucky participant will win a personalized copy of her fun new picture book from Roaring Brook Press:

DMC: "Circle of Life" by Jessica Bigi

THE CIRCLE OF LIFE

We were born near blue oceans—
Green sea turtles emerging from eggs
Flipper digging brown-white sands
Following footsteps of other turtles
Into blue rolling waters

Oceans of squids and krill
Blue whales emerging into light
From deep purple depth into light
Oceans of seaweed and seahorses

 
We were born in lakes
Shimmering lakes—
Lakes of bluegills and pink waterlilies
Buzzing purple-green wing water nymphs

We were born near lakes
Lakes of water spiders and minnows
Blue herons standing in
Lakes of seagulls and bass

We were born in rivers
Rivers of tadpoles and salamanders
Rainbow troughs
Rivers of ducks and crayfish

We were born on the land
Deer running through fields
Drinking from rivers

We were born in the forest
Firs, oak and ash
We breathe life into the air
oak and ash

We were born in the sky
Blue-blue sky
Eagle soaring

© 2016 Jessica Bigi. All rights reserved.


In celebration of National Poetry Month, Marilyn Singer has challenged us to write poems inspired by the word "echo." Click HERE for more details.

Send your poem to TodaysLittleDitty (at) gmail (dot) com, or use the contact form in the sidebar to the right. All contributions will be included in a wrap-up celebration on Friday, April 29th, and one lucky participant will win a copy of her fantastic new collection of reverso poems based on Greek myths:

DMC: "Lotus" by Jessica Bigi

Amy Ludwig VanDerwater has challenged us to write poems about small things— animals or objects you see everyday and don't give much thought. Click HERE for more details.

Send your poem to TodaysLittleDitty (at) gmail (dot) com, or use the contact form in the sidebar to the right. All contributions will be included in a wrap-up celebration on Friday, March 25th, and one lucky participant will win a personalized copy of her nonfiction picture book:

DMC: "Nothing" by Jessica Bigi

NOTHING

Untraced daffodils
Umbrella rains
Unfold wings
Untangle strings
Unwinding winds
Unwanted bees
Unrolling rivers
Untraced dandelions
Unhitch leaves
Unraked yards
Umbrella moon
Unfolded snowflakes    
Unmarked pages
Unwritten untraced
Unseasoned nothing   

© 2016 Jessica Bigi. All rights reserved.


Douglas Florian has challenged us to write poems about nothing this month. Read his entire spotlight interview HERE.

Send your poem to TodaysLittleDitty (at) gmail (dot) com, or use the contact form in the sidebar to the right. All contributions will be included in a wrap-up celebration on Friday, January 29th, and one lucky participant will win a signed copy of his adorable new picture book:

DMC: "Do Books Love Me?" by Jessica Bigi

Do Books Love Me?

I could hardly wait
in the summer for the bookmobile
to stop on my street.
I loved listening to stories being told.
Then once, on Christmas, I
got some books. I wasn’t sure why
all the words looped around my breath.
Jumbles of traffic jams
flipping forward and backward
as if diving into oceans of alphabet soup.
Letters jumping rope all over the pages.
At times I couldn’t even
write the words without them tangling
like balls of yarn.
One sentence, an hour-long highway
of loops and zagging words.
OH, the stories I could write and tell,
but I had wondered if books love me.
Until, at thirty-three, I read some poems.
At first they seemed to laugh out nonsense letters
till my breath sounded them out into perfect rhymes.
Rhyme skipped rope into stories
and without a doubt, I finally knew,
books love me too.

© 2015 Jessica Bigi. All rights reserved.

Marcus Ewert has challenged us to write love poems this month– about relationships that seem unrequited, but which end up being requited after all. Click HERE for more details.

Send your poem to TodaysLittleDitty (at) gmail (dot) com, or use the contact form in the sidebar to the right. All contributions will be included in a wrap-up celebration on Friday, October 30th, and one lucky participant will win an autographed copy of his fabulous new picture book: