DMC: A cherita by Maria Marshall

moving every year or two

changing towns and schools
was tough enough

why would the teacher
sing the West-Side Story song*
every day for roll?

© 2018 Maria Marshall. All rights reserved.

* “I just met a girl named, Maria….”


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 this Friday, September 28th, and one lucky participant will win a personalized copy of her latest collection of poetry from Greenwillow Books:

DMC: "Single Future" by Maria Marshall

SINGLE FUTURE
          ~with a line from "Black Box, by Devon Hope"

How do you believe,
when “we” becomes “me”?
All that remains is I.
Surrounded by dreams that won’t
come true. And futures too big to fit.

© 2018 Maria Marshall. All rights reserved.

"Black Box, by Devon Hope" © 2002 Nikki Grimes, from BRONX MASQUERADE


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: "Epitaph for a Slug" by Maria Marshall

EPITAPH FOR A SLUG

Your shiny trail gave you away,
when hungry ducks came out to play.

One look, a peck, and giant slurp,
and you were nothing but a burp.

© 2018 Maria Marshall. All rights reserved.


Click HERE to read this month's interview with J. Patrick Lewis and Jane Yolen. They have challenged us to write an epitaph poem—a funny or clever verse that might appear on your chosen subject's tombstone.

Post your poem on our February 2018 padlet. While some contributions will be featured as daily ditties this month, all contributions will be included in a wrap-up celebration this Friday, February 23rd, and one lucky participant will win a copy of their morbidly humorous collection from Charlesbridge:

DMC: "Winter Wonderland" by Maria Marshall

WINTER WONDERLAND

Autumn brings change and death.
Every Fall, green hastens into a jumbled
kaleidoscope of leaves.
Marking Nature’s order for
peace and quiet,
rest, solitude, and time.
Under vast white eXpanses,
yielding to zephyrs.

© 2017 Maria Marshall. 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: "Measuring Time" by Maria Marshall

MEASURING TIME

Pulled apart, we each drift and shift down
through the opening back to the ground.
Slowly slipping, counting out eternity,
we gather together in uniformity.

Individuals, separately small,
together we have the wherewithal,
to delineate time, measure your moments,
count down your life, or increase your focus.

We don't need any gears, springs, or hands,
we stand ready, awaiting your command,
to always and accurately amass —
We are the sands in the hourglass.

© 2016 Maria Marshall. All rights reserved.


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 delightful nonfiction picture book:

DMC: "Leaf" by Maria Marshall

LEAF

Leaf is a changing word.
So crisp and colorful in fall,
as I dash and descend
into crackling mountains.
Deep, strong green in summer,
as I dodge the blazing sun.
But best of all,
is the softness of spring,
stroking my face
as I read among suspended clouds
of pink flowers.

© 2015 Maria Marshall. All rights reserved.


Nikki Grimes has challenged us to try a wordplay exercise this month and create our own free verse poems. Click HERE for all the 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, May 29th, and one lucky participant will win a personalized copy of Nikki's brand new picture book: