DMC: "Book Monsters" by Jone Rush MacCulloch

Massey Services

BOOK MONSTERS

silverfish
squirmy nocturnal
book monsters
munch pages
chowing on book paste
until the librarian
arrives with tweezers

© 2019 Jone Rush MacCulloch. All rights reserved.

Micha L. Rieser

TLD reader Rebecca Herzog has challenged us to write a poem about something a monster is afraid of. Read my interview with Becky HERE and add your poem about a monster fear to the padlet. While some contributions will be featured as daily ditties leading up to Halloween, you can check out our entire monster menagerie HERE.

DMC: "Strip Away" by Jone Rush MacCulloch

STRIP AWAY
          ~with a line from "Truth, by Tyrone Bittings"

In the inky darkness of a
room, the lines of a poem
hang in the shadows. Can
the newborn worm moon strip
the harshness of winter away
refusing to walk in fear?

© 2018 Jone Rush MacCulloch. All rights reserved.

"Truth, by Tyrone Bittings" © 2018 Nikki Grimes, from BETWEEN THE LINES.


Click HERE to read this month's interview with Nikki Grimes. She has challenged us to write a golden shovel poem using a line from one of the poems in the post.

Leave your golden shovel on our March 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, March 30th, and one lucky participant will win a copy of her new companion novel to Bronx Masquerade:

DMC: "The Beauty of Grief" by Jone Rush MacCulloch

THE BEAUTY OF GRIEF

It arrives
unexpectedly.
Song lyrics
driving home.
The woodsy clove scent lingers
with his memory.

Grace moments,
sorting memories.
Hold this one,
free others.
Watching the sunrise with him.
Soaring with eagles.

© 2017 Jone Rush MacCulloch. All rights reserved.


Click HERE to read this month's interview with Carol Hinz, Editorial Director of Millbrook Press and Carolrhoda Books, divisions of Lerner Publishing Group. Her challenge is to write a poem that finds beauty in something that is not usually considered beautiful.

You have until Thursday, November 30th, at 5:00 pm (EST) to join in! Post your poem on our November 2017 padlet and I will add it to the wrap-up presentation HERE. One lucky participant will win a copy of The Sun Played Hide-and-Seek: A Personification Story by Brian P. Cleary, illustrated by Carol Crimmins, and published by Millbrook Press earlier this year.

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: "Gossipers" by Jone Rush MacCulloch

GOSSIPERS

Library books sit on shelves
,
wait for lights off and begin

hushed voices with each other.

Conversations in the dark
:
Whoa, she dogeared my pages.

I felt his tears on THE END.

Forgotten, not been checked out.

A first grader stole a book,

tucked it under her rag coat.

Blue moon shines through the window.

Library books, gossipers,

whispering words without sleep.

© 2016 Jone Rush MacCulloch. All rights reserved.


Jane Yolen has challenged us to write a septercet that features reading or writing this month. What is a septercet?  Click HERE for more details.

Post your poem on our September 2016 padlet. All contributions will be included in a wrap-up celebration on Friday, September 30th, and one lucky participant will win a personalized copy of her fabulous new collection of science poetry:

DMC: "In the mountains" by Jone Rush MacCulloch

From Jone:

Since it’s “Take-A-Line” Tuesday, I borrow this from Marilyn Singer’s poem, “Narcissus and Echo”, “Leave me, foolish pursuer.”

In the mountains
I lift my head and yell
to the sky,
Leave me,
Foolish pursuer.
I listen for the echo.

I listen for the echo.
Foolish pursuer,
Leave me
to the sky.
I lift my head and yell
in the mountains.

© 2016 Jone Rush MacCulloch. 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 this Friday, April 29th, and one lucky participant will win a copy of her fantastic new collection of reverso poems based on Greek myths:

DMC: "Wheelbarrow tracks" by Jone Rush MacCulloch

Wheelbarrow tracks
crisscross
the soft, garden mud.

Having rained
three nights ago
the dirt
is like modeling clay.

Straight, simple
lines
obtuse, acute, right angles

father would be
proud
geometry in the soil

Wheelbarrow tracks
parallel lines
in which I compose a ditty.

© 2016 Jone Rush MacCulloch. All rights reserved


David L. Harrison has challenged us to write poems inspired by the word "ditty" this month. 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, February 26th, and one lucky participant will win a copy of his newest collection for children:

For an additional chance to win, write a poem inspired by "leaves" for David's Word of the Month (W.O.M.) challenge HERE. 

Haiku Garden: Jone Rush MacCulloch

"Winter Strikes Back" by Bryce Mullet, Flickr Creative Commons

Jone Rush MacCulloch is no stranger to haiku.  For the last three years, she has participated in Shiki Kukai, a monthly haiku challenge that's now in its 19th year.  Each month, people from around the world write haiku based on two prompts– a Kigo, or seasonal word, and a free form word. The haiku are then anonymously distributed to the community for voting. Points are allotted by each member for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place entries, and the results are posted.  What a wonderful way to immerse yourself in the practice of writing this form!

Today I'm delighted to welcome Jone to the Haiku Garden. Given the difficult task of choosing amongst several of her beautiful and thought-provoking haiku, I decided upon this one, which was born from the February 2014 free form prompt: "longing."

For me, it was love at first sight...


                         between
                         snowfalls
                         the robin's song

                         © 2014 Jone Rush MacCulloch. All rights reserved.

"Winter Robin" by Bryce Mullet, Flickr Creative Commons

...and still I'm left longing for more.

Besides having the voice of a poet, Jone speaks with expertise as a library media specialist/teacher, and many sing her praises as Poetry Chair for the Cybils as well. (Find out more about the Children's and Young Adult Bloggers' Literary Awards HERE.) Did I mention that Jone also maintains three blogs? Her professional blog is called Check It Out: Life and Books in a K5 Library School Setting, her personal blog is Deo Writer, and Solace In Nature is her photography blog... oh yes, Jone is a talented photographer as well!

Thank you for taking a moment to share your talent

in the Haiku Garden, Jone.

In case you missed it, last week Joyce Sidman challenged us to write a "Deeper Wisdom" poem. You can find all the details HERE. So far I've featured poems from Katie Gast and Buffy Silverman, and today I must point you over to Reflections on the Teche, where Margaret Simon describes the deeper wisdom that she and her student poet, Matthew, achieved this week in the classroom.  I hope you'll consider sending me your poem. (Frankly, I can use all the wisdom I can get!)

You'll discover lots of wisdom in the poetry Irene Latham has selected to celebrate MLK Day. Those treasures and more can be found in today's Poetry Friday roundup at Live Your Poem.

DMC: "First storm of autumn" by Jone Rush MacCulloch

First storm of autumn: drenching rain,
leaves tumble down.
Branches
sway.
Morning quiet,
darkness
stays.
Changing season
shortens
days.

© 2014 Jone Rush MacCulloch. All rights reserved.


J. Patrick Lewis has challenged us to write a zeno this month. What's a zeno, you ask? Click HERE for details.

To join in the fun, send yours to TodaysLittleDitty (at) gmail (dot) com, or use the contact form in the sidebar to the right. All zenos will be included in the wrap-up celebration this Friday, October 31st, and one lucky participant will win a copy of Pat's gorgeous, new, "best of" collection: