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| KATE O'NEIL |
According to
her website, Kate O'Neil has written poetry, mostly for children, since her school days. Her poems have appeared in many magazines and anthologies—most recently,
Moonstruck! Poems About Our Moon, edited by Roger Stevens. She has two poems in
The Best of Today's Little Ditty 2016 and in the forthcoming volume as well. You can also read her work
here on the blog. Last year a collection of her poems (113 of them) was published by Triple
D Books, Wagga Wagga. Part of a series of "Reciter"
collections by Australian poets,
Cool Poems includes poems for a range of ages, chosen for their suitability to perform out loud.
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Cool Poems and the family of "Reciter" collections, published by Triple D.
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Until recently, Kate taught "Performing Text" in after-school lessons to students ranging in age from 7 to 21 years old. It involved tailoring programs of poetry, prose and dramatic monologue to each student for the purpose of exams, auditions or
eisteddfod performances. It also happened to be the perfect excuse for spending hours reading familiar and new literature! But with an uptick in her writing time (and who can complain about that?), Kate's had to make some time management choices. She enjoys writing about the world around her (space, the Moon, etc),
about the world within her (emotions, philosophical puzzles, etc) and about
words and the act of writing.
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| Kate's lovelies: Joey-Leunig and Poppy-Houdini |
Aside from poetry, Kate is passionate about her family, her adorable rescue dogs, and the future of this Earth we live on. At a loss for what her superpower might be, she asked her family. One said dog-whispering, one said dry stone walling, one said rhyming, and one was silent. (Who am I to doubt their expertise?) As for a book that everyone should read, Kate recommends
The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry.
What do you say we find out a bit more about this multi-talented little ditty rhymer from down under?
Kate's five favorites:
- Favorite perfume: night-scented plants
- Favorite music: "Dedication" (Schumann / Liszt) — listen HERE
- Favorite film: Blade Runner (Did you know the story is set in a dystopian future Los Angeles of November 2019?!!) — watch the official trailer HERE
But words are things, and a small drop of ink,
Falling like dew, upon a thought, produces
That which makes thousands, perhaps millions, think…
– Byron, Don Juan
Poetry is—
... what results from a poet’s search for the best way to put into words an insight or perception or experience s/he wishes to share.
How did you come to poetry?
I remember being fascinated by words when I was very young. I loved nursery rhymes, (memorised the most appalling rhymed advertisements and wrote my own appalling rhymes). I loved ambiguity, puns, all wordplay and the way figures of speech could say so much so concisely. Studying poetry at school clinched the relationship.
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| Passing on a love of words and reading to her grandkids. |
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| Five years later . . . same grandson, same reading chair. |
Why do you write?
I write for so many reasons: to capture a thought or observation, to entertain friends, to enter competitions, to see what will happen when I do. Apart from writing that comes from an inside source, I like writing to prompts (yay TLD) and love the way the outcome can totally surprise me.
How does poetry fit into your life?
There’s a randomness about my writing and thoughts I’ll write about, so I make frequent use of the Notes app in my iPhone. (Beware—these are easily deleted. I have learnt to save them elsewhere as soon as possible). Listening to radio, conversations, reading, at weddings or funerals—ideas for poetry pop up anytime. Long road trips are wonderful for actually working on an idea. (Husband doing the driving).
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| On the road with Kate O'Neil (outback New South Wales) |
Who or what influences your writing most?
I studied literature at university and the selection of poets I read gave me a basis for further exploration. Even the academic approach—lit crit, prosody etc, was grist to the mill. Entering competitions has led to meeting up with other people writing poetry now (especially children’s poetry) and I’ve done some online month-long, prompt-a-day poetry courses with UK poet Wendy Pratt. This has introduced me to another community of poets (adult poetry).
What is the best advice you can give?
Read poetry every day. All forms, subjects, eras. You’ll learn where you like to be. Read books about writing poetry – there are some fabulous ones. And read Nicholson Baker’s entertaining novel, The Anthologist.
What have you chosen as this month's ditty challenge?
Words at Play.
With this challenge I have in mind the enormous value of this site as "A poetry playground for the child in all of us." Yes, the child in the adult still likes to play. So my challenge is to write a poem based on the sheer delight of words at play: malapropisms, ambiguities, unintended meanings, puns, clichés, etc. Inspiration could be found listening to children, from newspaper headlines, lists of ‘howlers’ on the net, etc. As an example . . .
RUNNING
The garden tap is running—
we shouldn’t waste a drop.
Can anybody catch it?
We have to make it stop.
The garden tap is running
and I am running late.
Since I’m running out of time
please catch it at the gate.
© Kate O'Neil. All rights reserved.
This is going to be so much fun!
I'm expecting laughs and groans in equal parts, folks, so don't disappoint me. ;)
For those on the lookout for more inspiration . . .
Darn! Seems they're all taken. Guess you'll have to find some "tearable" puns elsewhere.
What you
will find here is the padlet—it's embedded below. Add your poem(s) 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.
Such a clever one, this Kate O'Neil! I love her enthusiasm, her sense of humor, her playful approach to writing and life, and I love that she brightens up the TLD neighborhood whenever she's around. Please join me in thanking her for being with us today.
If you would like to be featured in a future reader spotlight, I invite you to complete
this form.
I had a blast counting down to Halloween with daily ditties about monster fears! This week I featured
my own poem, along with others by
Janie Lazo,
Jone Rush MacCulloch, and
Matt Forrest Esenwine. There were also new padlet contributions from Buffy Silverman, Elizabeth Steinglass, Maria Marshall, Penny Parker Klostermann, Juanita Havill, Amanda Sincavage, and Mary Lee Hahn (who also shares her poem today at
A Year of Reading). You'll find the entire collection
HERE. Feel free to keep adding to it if you'd like!
Tabatha Yeatts has this week's Poetry Friday roundup at
The Opposite of Indifference. She shares a Samantha Reynolds poem called "My Four-Year-Old Poetry Teacher" that might also serve as inspiration for this month's DMC challenge! Thanks, Tabatha!
