DMC: "Remember That Time When" by Mary Lee Hahn

REMEMBER THAT TIME WHEN

Remember that time
when we played
long distance cribbage?

You, in California,
me, in Colorado.
We sent cards

back and forth
in the mail.
I can't recall

how to play,
not to mention
how or why

we chose this
absurdly random method
for staying connected.

Maybe that's it—
the big takeaway:
against all odds,

connect.

© 2020 Mary Lee Hahn. All rights reserved.

TLD reader Tabatha Yeatts has challenged us to write a poem about a game (any kind). Click HERE for more details and to add your poem to the padlet. You can read all of the poems contributed this month HERE.

DMC: "The Game of Getting Lost" by Elizabeth Steinglass

THE GAME OF GETTING LOST

Under the palms and banana leaves
along the winding trails,
I ran ahead of my mom and dad
and found myself alone.

On my own in the giant world,
I chose which way to go.
I crossed the swaying wooden bridge,
I passed the waterfall,

I smelled the lemony golden elves,
I petted the pompom tree,
and when I felt I’d been gone too long,
I turned myself around.

Spying my parents along the path,
I skipped away again,
playing the game of getting lost
within the greenhouse walls. 

© 2020 Elizabeth Steinglass. All rights reserved.

TLD reader Tabatha Yeatts has challenged us to write a poem about a game (any kind). Click HERE for more details and to add your poem to the padlet. You can read all of the poems contributed this month HERE.

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.

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.

DMC: "on saturday" by Jan Godown Annino

on saturday

on saturday
gray gulls float in shifting arabesques over water silk
a firm hand finishes the lighthouse sign post
my father ferries hot cups to the table
everyone sips, taps a wayward piece into place, finishing "Shore"

© 2020 Jan Godown Annino. All rights reserved.

TLD reader Tabatha Yeatts has challenged us to write a poem about a game (any kind). Click HERE for more details and to add your poem to the padlet. While some poems will be shared as daily ditties this month, all contributions will be included in a wrap-up celebration tomorrow, Friday, March 27th.

DMC: "red-tailed hawk" by Robyn Hood Black

red-tailed hawk
to the gray squirrel
tag – you're it

© 2020 Robyn Hood Black. All rights reserved.

TLD reader Tabatha Yeatts has challenged us to write a poem about a game (any kind). Click HERE for more details and to add your poem to the padlet. While some poems will be shared as daily ditties this month, all contributions will be included in a wrap-up celebration this Friday, March 27th.

DMC: "Hide and Seek" by Janie Lazo

HIDE AND SEEK

Let’s play a game of hide and seek
My best friend said to me
Then off she ran as there I sat
Leaned up against a tree
I counted up to ten and yelled
Get ready here I come
But then I went inside the house–
This game seemed quite ho hum
I watched some TV, ate a snack
And read my favorite book
When I got bored I went outside
Perhaps I’ll take a look
As I went out her mom pulled up–
C’mon it’s time to go
Our game was done– our friendship too
I guess I was too slow

© 2020 Janie Lazo. All rights reserved.

TLD reader Tabatha Yeatts has challenged us to write a poem about a game (any kind). Click HERE for more details and to add your poem to the padlet. While some poems will be shared as daily ditties this month, all contributions will be included in a wrap-up celebration this Friday, March 27th.

DMC: "If I Were Small" by David McMullin

IF I WERE SMALL

If I were small, so very small
that stones were big and grass was tall,
I’d have the pill bug stop its crawl
to be my tiny basketball.

And we'd have fun. Oh, so much fun.
I’d toss him up. He’d roll, I’d run.
But when we saw the setting sun,
He’d crawl away – our game all done.

© 2020 David McMullin. All rights reserved.

TLD reader Tabatha Yeatts has challenged us to write a poem about a game (any kind). Click HERE for more details and to add your poem to the padlet. While some poems will be shared as daily ditties this month, all contributions will be included in a wrap-up celebration this Friday, March 27th.

DMC: "Games of Hopscotch" by Dianne Moritz

GAMES OF HOPSCOTCH

In the days of innocence and Eisenhower,
most girls would play their games of hopscotch.
Jay-walking to a vacant lot across the street,
we’d kick away debris and bits of broken glass,
             
              scratch out our game-boards
              on rough cement with pieces
              of chalk snitched from school.

Like kangaroos, we’d hop, hop, hop, jump, hop
turn around, till sweat dripped down our rosy cheeks,
and our lips craved ice-cold cherry Cokes, grape
popsicles from Sweeny’s drugstore down the block.
             
               We’d skip off laughing, hand
               in hand, stepping over wide
               cracks, sparing our mothers’ backs,
               Carefree, happy, high on life.

© 2020 Dianne Moritz. All rights reserved.

TLD reader Tabatha Yeatts has challenged us to write a poem about a game (any kind). Click HERE for more details and to add your poem to the padlet. While some poems will be shared as daily ditties this month, all contributions will be included in a wrap-up celebration on Friday, March 27th.

DMC: "Object Permanence" by Bridget Magee

OBJECT PERMANENCE

mommy's there
in front of me
then disappears
where she be?

PEEK-A-BOO!
mommy's back
big bright smile
bubbly laugh

© 2020 Bridget Magee. All rights reserved.

TLD reader Tabatha Yeatts has challenged us to write a poem about a game (any kind). Click HERE for more details and to add your poem to the padlet. While some poems will be shared as daily ditties this month, all contributions will be included in a wrap-up celebration on Friday, March 27th.

DMC: "Bored Game or Board Game" by Kathleen Mazurowski

BORED GAME OR BOARD GAME

Stuck inside with nothing to do.
Check the shelves for something new.

Don’t remember how to play.
We’ll make the rules along the way.

Pick a color, red or blue.
Throw the dice and you get two.

I go next and roll a four.
Move the disk and add three more.

Changing the rules as we see fit
Toss the board and now you’re it!

© 2020 Kathleen Mazurowski. All rights reserved.

TLD reader Tabatha Yeatts has challenged us to write a poem about a game (any kind). Click HERE for more details and to add your poem to the padlet. While some poems will be shared as daily ditties this month, all contributions will be included in a wrap-up celebration on Friday, March 27th.

Let the Games Begin!

Bill Selak

Welcome to this month's game-a-thon, inspired by Tabatha Yeatts.

Earlier this week, I posted a quote from philosopher and psychologist Karl Groos to start the ball rolling. It was paired with a photo of "Timeline: Literary Edition"—a card game made by Tabatha and her daughter Elena. (Kudos to Elena for her amazing box design and card layout!)

You might be relieved to know that Tabatha is not asking us to create a new game this month, just a poem about a game—a board game, a card game, a party game, an outdoor game, a video game... even a poem about playing with a toy would be acceptable. We already have a few ditties by Cindy Breedlove, Kathleen Mazurowski, Sydey O'Neill, and Margaret Simon on the padlet, and today I'll be sharing mine.

My first idea for this challenge was to cleverly incorporate the names of popular games into a familiar story line. It was fun to begin with, but zany soon turned to wacko and spiraled out of control from there. Perhaps someone else might have more success with that approach. Instead, I found my poem sitting quietly off to one side, trying not to be noticed. It's not at all what I expected to write for this challenge, but it is about a game... sort of.


Notes from the Front Step

A kick-the-can newbie,
          Do you want to play?

I was expert in the rules of invisibility—
          No, thanks. I’ll watch.

spending my childhood
behind an imaginary camera,
          No, really. I like to watch.

clicking each awkward moment,
capturing each missed opportunity—

trophies inside my glass case.

© 2020 Michelle Heidenrich Barnes. All rights reserved.

Orin Zebest

Click HERE for more information about this month's challenge or to add your poem to the padlet.

It's time once again for Madness! Poetry. Round one is underway and Matt Forrest Esenwine fills us in on the details. Join him for this week's Poetry Friday roundup at Radio, Rhythm & Rhyme.

Reader Spotlight: Tabatha Yeatts + DMC Challenge

TABATHA YEATTS

For our first reader spotlight of 2020, I'm thrilled to feature a well-loved fixture of the Poetry Friday scene and one of my most favorite people: Tabatha Yeatts. Tabatha has shared hundreds of posts about music, art, wellness, and, of course, poetry on her blog The Opposite of Indifference. She has organized poem swaps, useful resources like printables for National Poetry Month, and other "neat stuff" that you can find at Tabatha-Yeatts.com. She is the editor of Imperfect: Poems about Mistakes: An Anthology for Middle Schoolers and has also written nonfiction books for young adults and dozens of articles for magazines and newspapers ranging from Cricket to Logic Puzzles to the Christian Science Monitor. Tabatha especially likes writing about animals, fantasy, and historical subjects. Browse through a selection of original poems on her blog or click here for the ones I've featured on Today's Little Ditty.

Although Tabatha exemplifies the opposite of indifference, she informed me that she is also "the opposite of a person who likes to be the center of attention." An unfaltering force behind the scenes, she spends her time on those things that she is most passionate about, which, besides writing, is making things and caring for people, pets, and plants. Making things can be anything from fixing the tastiest low-histamine, low sugar, gluten-free meals possible to concocting herbal salves and extracts. When asked about her superpower, Tabatha told me that she looks forward to being able to shoot lasers out of her hands when she turns 50.

* NEWSFLASH * 

Don't lean in too closely to your screens, folks, because that would be TODAY.

An alternative superpower might be that Tabatha is never bored, or maybe that she is a calming presence (minus the lasers). She's offering bonus points for anyone who figures out what her superhero name would be. I'm going with Laser Girl or possibly Scorch, but you can leave your suggestions in the comments. Whatever her name is, I'm flattered that this reluctant interviewee decided to share herself with the TLD community!

Tabatha's five favorites:

• Favorite superhero: Captain America (Chris Evans)
• Favorite color: dark cyan, orchid, or sea green
• Favorite food: cheesecake
• Favorite unpopular vegetable: Brussels sprouts
• Favorite childhood stuffed animal: a cat named Big Fuzzy

Newest family member Preston likes Big Fuzzy too.

Poetry is —
. . . fitting word-pieces into a puzzle whose picture you make as you go.

How did you come to poetry?

I started writing poetry at an early age. My first published piece was a poem in Jack and Jill magazine about Vincent van Gogh, who is still one of my favorite artists.

Why do you write?

I write because I love reading, because I like being a conduit between an idea or story and other people, and because I LOVE the way it feels after I've written something.

Who or what inspires or influences your writing most?

My inspirations and influences overlap. The Poetry Friday community is a huge influence on my writing life. I pocket many ideas from making the rounds of their posts. Other inspirational influences include: my parents, kids, pets—

Preston’s plumb tuckered out from inspiring poems like this one.

and even my hardware architect husband, Anne Lamott (Bird by Bird), Stephen King (On Writing), Diane Lockward's poetry newsletter, Bernadette Geyer and the poets I met through her, J.K. Rowling, and anybody who's ever written a time-travel story.

What is the best advice you've ever gotten?

Some of the best advice I've gotten wasn't about writing. It was about love.

"The best way of knowing life is to love many things"

– paraphrasing Vincent van Gogh (again!)

I live by that. More love advice, this time from author Aberjhani:

 

At BOTH ends, baby! That may seem like a stretch, so start out with one pot of gold and see how it goes. :-) Once you've loved lots of things and yourself, it will be easier to put love at your center when you are dealing with tough situations. There will always be situations that pretty much seem like garbage from top to bottom. What I've discovered is that when love is your motivation, there is a glimmer of something beautiful no matter what. Love brings its own patina.

Hold on, folks, let's just savor that last bit, shall we?

Love brings its own patina. 

Mmmm... yes.

Do you have any recent or forthcoming books or projects you'd like to mention?

IMPERFECT is now available as an ebook!

Fantastic! Order your ebook copy HERE.


And finally, what have you chosen as this month's ditty challenge?

Write a poem about people (or animals or inanimate objects) and a game. 

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. Okay, poets, it's Game Day!

Click to enlarge.

Game on!
I'm excited to see where this challenge takes us.

"Ticket to Ride: District 5" (see right) is a game that Tabatha and her husband made for their son.


You'll find the padlet embedded below. Add your poem about a game at any point during the month or scroll through to check out what others are contributing.

HOW TO PARTICIPATE

By posting on the padlet, you are also granting me permission to feature your poem on Today's Little Ditty. I'm not sure how often I'll be featuring poems from reader challenges, but I want to keep my options open. :)

If you have not participated in a challenge before, please send me an email at TodaysLittleDitty (at) gmail (dot) com so that I can contact you, if necessary.

HOW TO POST YOUR POEM
In the lower right corner of the padlet you'll see a pink dot with a plus sign. Click on it to open a text box. I find it works best to type your title on the title line and paste the rest of your poem where it says "Write something...". Single click outside the text box when finished. This board is moderated to prevent spam. Once your poem is approved, it will appear publicly.

PROTECT YOUR COPYRIGHT
Remember to include your name as author of any work that you post!

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.

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.

If you prefer to open this padlet in a new tab, click HERE.

One of Tabatha's superpowers may be that she's never bored, but I'd have to add that she's also never boring. Tabatha is the perfect combination of caring and fun, her blog posts never fail to make me think, and she inspires me to be a better, more loving person. So please join me in thanking her for being here today and help me wish her the happiest of birthdays!


If you would like to be featured in a future reader spotlight, I invite you to complete this form.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Thanks once again to everyone who participated in last month's DMC challenge from Buffy Silverman! If you missed our collection of poems that use combined or invented words, you'll find it HERE.

Random.org has determined that the winner of a signed copy of On a Snow-Melting Day: Seeking Signs of Spring by Buffy Silverman will go to . . .

LINDA MITCHELL

Congratulations, Linda!

Volcanoes and eggs are on the menu at this week's Poetry Friday roundup hosted by Rebecca Herzog. Find out what else is on offer at Sloth Reads.