DMC: "Standing on a Dock in the Lake" by Juanita Havill

Standing on a Dock in the Lake

If I can’t see the bottom of the lake,
should I jump in?

If once a moss-slick snag poked my leg when I plunged
deep below the surface . . .

If a long, thin murky creature slips into the water
(Is that a snake?) . . .

If a hungry pike big enough to eat a child is cruising
the depths . . .

If that log floating near shore is a ravenous snapping turtle
ready to snap . . .

If the lake right here off the end of the dock is deeper
than the deep  I think I know . . .

If the water is so cold that it cramps my stomach . . .

If powerful hidden currents twirl and swirl
me far out to the middle of the lake . . .

If I am all alone with no one to hear me scream,
“HELP!” . . .

Should I jump in the lake?

Do I have to answer these questions?

Or do I close my eyes and jump?

© 2018 Juanita Havill. 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. All contributions will be included in a wrap-up presentation tomorrow, Friday, September 28th, and one lucky participant will win a personalized copy of her latest collection of poetry from Greenwillow Books:

DMC: "Astronomy Field Trip" by Juanita Havill

ASTRONOMY FIELD TRIP

Dinosaurs with telescopes

explore the sky at night—

sliver of moon and shimmering stars.

They marvel at the sight.

 

But rocks in space called asteroids

that flare when they ignite

in the atmosphere of planet Earth

give dinosaurs a fright.

 

© 2018 Juanita Havill. 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 tomorrow, Friday, April 27th, and one lucky participant will win a personalized copy of their fun new rhyming picture book from POW! Kids:

DMC: "Oxblood Red" by Juanita Havill

OXBLOOD RED

Once it was red
now no longer
the color of ox blood
the barn stands gray and bleak
in disrepair
gaps where boards have split
the farmer would paint it
replace the boards
if he were still alive

pigeons don’t mind
roosting on rafters
cooing in the morning
mice don’t mind
sheltering in aging straw
hiding from the owl

the wind doesn’t mind
it blows through chinks
reclaims the loft
and one day
collapses the boards in a heap
of memories
strong as the smell
of fresh-baled hay

© 2017 Juanita Havill. 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: "Quibbling Theories" by Juanita Havill

QUIBBLING THEORIES

Marks in the desert sand,
notations of a passerby.
Observers
puzzle,
quibbling theories, until . . .

realization:
snake
trail,
undulating across the desert sand.
Viper, perhaps.

Where is it now? 

© 2017 Juanita Havill. All rights reserved.


Click HERE to read this month's interview with Carole Boston Weatherford. She has challenged us to write an abecedarian poem.

Generally each line (or word) of an abecedarian poem begins with A and continues in alphabetical order until you reach Z. For this challenge, you may start and end with whichever letters you choose, as long as they are sequential.

Post your poem on our September 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, September 29th. One lucky participant will win a copy of Schomburg: The Man Who Built a Library by Carole Boston Weatherford, illustrated by Eric Velasquez (Candlewick Press, 2017).

DMC: "Rivers" by Juanita Havill

RIVERS

Writing,
You swim in a river of words.
Word by chosen word,
The delta nears.

Reading,
You stand in the same river twice,
Seeing deeper as
The water clears.

© 2017 Juanita Havill. 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.

You have until the end of today, May 31st, to join in! Post your poem on our May 2017 padlet and I will add it to the wrap-up presentation HERE. 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: "Happiness in Motion" by Juanita Havill

HAPPINESS IN MOTION

Happiness scampers

across the roof of my mind

leaps to a branch

all spunk and play

descends

gargle-giggling from a toothy smile

delight in digging

delight in finding

delight in sitting on the deck wall

question-mark tail

curved along its back.

What next?

 

© 2017 Juanita Havill. All rights reserved.

 

 

Jeannine Atkins has challenged us to write a poem that uses personified feeling. For more details, click HERE.

Post your poem on our February 2017 padlet.  All contributions will be included in a wrap-up celebration this Friday, February 24th, and one lucky participant will win a personalized copy of her latest novel-in-verse from Atheneum Books/Simon & Schuster: