DMC: "Instructions" by Michele Krueger

INSTRUCTIONS

Seed,
tucked in soil,
freed of hull,
weathered shell,
slowly swell.
Accept your fate.
Germinate.
Take root.
Be firm.
Introduce yourself
to worm.
Take stock.
Learn to navigate
around mole,
over rock.
But beware,
Don’t linger there.
Travel up towards light,
heat.
Be nourished.
Burst forth
and flourish.
Drink, quench.
Avoid flood.
Unfurl leaf,
Burgeon bud.
Give the world
a fragrant scent.
Flower’s sweet
accomplishment.

© 2019 Michele Krueger. All rights reserved.


Elizabeth Steinglass has challenged us to write a poem giving instructions to an inanimate object about how to do its job. Click HERE for more details and to read this month's Spotlight ON interview.

Post your poem on our May 2019 padlet. All contributions will be included in a wrap-up celebration tomorrow, Friday, May 31st, and one lucky participant will win a personalized copy of her fantastic debut poetry collection from WordSong:

DMC: "Mother, Matriarchitect" by Michele Krueger

MOTHER, MATRIARCHITECT

her body

was my first home,

my life was built there

bone by bone



curling small

I swayed inside,

in her embrace 

I never cried



slowly growing

limb by limb,

finger, fibula,

eyebrow, chin



she crafted me

from flesh and blood,

an artist's finest

sculpting mud



in fertile loam

a seed was sown,

my life was built there

bone by bone



in that moist womb

I safely moored



until the cutting

of the cord

© 2010 Michele Krueger. All rights reserved.


Kenn Nesbitt has challenged us to write poems for our mothers this month. Click HERE for more details.

Post your poem on our October 2016 padlet. All contributions will be included in a wrap-up celebration this Friday, October 28th, and one lucky participant will win an autographed copy of Kenn's delightful new anthology, forthcoming from Little, Brown Books for Young Readers on November 1, 2016:

DMC: "One Bronx Library" by Michele Krueger

One Bronx Library

I used to sit
in one Bronx library,
on one small chair

I hardly even noticed
the other people there

I'd sit for hours dreaming,
where miracles happened
if only you dared or cared
to come and find them

I ran there
returning books,
to look for more
to take me to a world,

not the one I knew

it was long ago
but I still remember it
so sweetly

that one Bronx library,
that one small chair

with a happy child

reading there

© 2015 Michele Krueger. All rights reserved.

Lee Bennett Hopkins has challenged us to write a "ME poem" this month, based on one simple moment in your childhood that changed you in some way. 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, September 25th.

Don't miss Michele's poem "At the Library" in Lee's gorgeous new anthology, JUMPING OFF LIBRARY SHELVES. One lucky participant in this month's DMC challenge will receive an autographed copy.