DMC: "Morning Moments" by Rebekah Hoeft

MORNING MOMENTS

After 49 days,
I’ll welcome the warmth
Of snuggles before the rest wake.

After 49 days,
I’ll listen for clunks
Of ice in the glass for his Coke.

After 49 days,
She’ll sleep in ‘til ten
Then rise and check in with friends.

After 49 days,
In quiet I wait
For my life to wake and begin.

© 2020 Rebekah Hoeft. All rights reserved.

TLD reader Margaret Simon has challenged us to write a mindful poem about the present moment. 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, May 29th.

DMC: "Winter Walking" by Rebekah Hoeft

WINTER WALKING

On winter walks
on crisp cold mornings
my favorite part
of frozen gravel paths
is finding
rumpled edges
and shallow ditches
where skims of
clouded ice
hang waiting for
my ice-searching
puddle-crunching
foot to
smash crash crinkle crackle crunch through
to the hollow space beneath.

© 2020 by Rebekah Hoeft. All rights reserved.

Image by Rene Schue from Pixabay

Buffy Silverman has challenged us to write a poem that uses combined or invented words. Click HERE for more details and to read this month's Spotlight ON interview.

Post your poem on our February 2020 padlet. All contributions will be included in a wrap-up celebration on Friday, February 28th, and one lucky participant will win a personalized copy of her nonfiction poetry picture book from Millbrook Press:

DMC: Instructions for the Sun and a star, by Isabella and Ani

Today I'm delighted to feature two students from Rebekah Hoeft's 3rd grade classroom. As you can see with these celestial poems, her young poets really do shine! Read more of Mrs. Hoeft's students' poems on the May 2019 padlet.


SUN INSTRUCTIONS

Shine real bright.
Don't come at night.
Don't come close to Earth.
When Winter comes, knock him back to
Aunt Artica.
Be the star of the show.
Let everybody know:
you shine bright.
 
© 2019 Isabella, 3rd Grader. All rights reserved.


STAR INSTRUCTIONS

Star in the sky,
shine so bright.
Only come
out in the night.

Be sparkly
and shiny
when you glow.

© 2019 Ani, 3rd Grader. 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 this Friday, May 31st, and one lucky participant will win a personalized copy of her fantastic debut poetry collection from WordSong:

DMC: "To My Yesterself" by Rebekah Hoeft

To My Yesterself

Why, yesterself, did you waste any thought
or angst or time on things you couldn't change?
Why make your mind a cage? It sought,
dear yesterself, a waste of time and thought.
What shift, what happiness in you is wrought
by mere review? Let go or act! Exchange,
my yesterself, the weighty waste of thought
and angst for time spent on the things you change.

© 2018 Rebekah Hoeft. 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. While some contributions will be featured as daily ditties this month, all contributions will be included in a wrap-up presentation on Friday, September 28th, and one lucky participant will win a personalized copy of her latest collection of poetry from Greenwillow Books:

DMC: "Proof of Life" by Rebekah Hoeft

PROOF OF LIFE

I see 

not you

but spray of crusts

and flock of birds

I see 

not you 

but steaming dish

and window cracked 

and box with blanket 

on porch on snow

I see 

not you 

but pawprints 

from door to fence
to door to yard
to door to gate to door

I see 

not you

but TV flicker 

and lights on and lights off 

and garbage cans out and garbage cans in

and garage door open and garage door closed

I see not you

but in this twilight rest

see quiet proof

of life intact

in winter’s grip

© 2018 Rebekah Hoeft. All rights reserved.

Click HERE to read this month's interview with Julie Fogliano. She has challenged us to stare out the window and write a poem about what we see. You might even consider writing something down every day for a week:

At the end of the week, read through what you wrote and write your favorite bits on a separate piece of paper. I bet there will be a poem in there somewhere… see if you can find it.  – J. F.

Leave your poem on our May 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, May 25th, and one lucky participant will win a personalized copy of her stunning new picture book from Roaring Brook Press:

DMC: "An Epitaph for My Epitaph" by Rebekah Hoeft

AN EPITAPH FOR MY EPITAPH

'Tis gone too soon; you'll never quote it.

The truth, 'tis sad: I never wrote it.

 

© 2018 Rebekah Hoeft. 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 tomorrow, Friday, February 23rd, and one lucky participant will win a copy of their morbidly humorous collection from Charlesbridge:

 

DMC: "True Whole" by Rebekah Hoeft

TRUE WHOLE

When viewed as whole,
the forest holds
a charm, a beauty undenied.
In seasons all
its splendor proved:
balletic boughs and leaves that hide
the dirty work,
the underside.
Inspection shows the grit, the grind,
the work that goes
unnoticed and
the workers that are oft-maligned.
The hyphae spread
their tendrils: webbed
destruction, ruin reaped, stage set
for comrades raid
the remnant woods.
Detritivores: they aid, abet,
they squirm, they ooze,
they crawl, they flit.
Death-eaters singly seen disgust
but duty-bound
they persevere.
With careful study, eyes adjust.
We view the woods’
true whole, not part.
The rot, the foul: ‘tis forest breath.
Diverse the work
complex the dance;
we see how life renews in death.

© 2017 Rebekah Hoeft. 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 this month is to write a poem that finds beauty in something that is not usually considered beautiful.

Post your poems on our November 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, November 24th. 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: "Consolation" by Rebekah Hoeft

CONSOLATION

diaphanous

ethereal

ephemeral eventide falls

gossamer gilded
hues illuminated

jewel-toned kingdom:
lake mist nestles
over pines
quiet
russet and saffron trees

© 2017 Rebekah Hoeft. 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: "Just a Little Ditty" by Rebekah Hoeft

When I posted David L. Harrison's poem yesterday, I mentioned that no one's brought a poem to the potluck based on his challenge yet. In February 2016, David challenged us to write poems inspired by the word "ditty." Right on cue, Rebekah Hoeft responded with this pretty little ditty.


JUST A LITTLE DITTY

Some may claim their love in stanzas,
Eighty-paged extravaganzas;
Bet their darlings won't remember
What was written come December.

My way differs oh so slightly:
Verses few that trip so lightly;
Little ditties stick so nicely,
State my cause just so precisely.

© 2017 Rebekah Hoeft. All rights reserved.


The DMC challenge for National Poetry Month is to contribute to our Ditty Potluck. Follow the guidelines for any one of the last 28 challenges, choosing from the following recipes:

Click HERE for an alphabetical list of all the DMC challenges.

Click HERE for an alphabetical list of all the Spotlight interviews.

Post your poem on our April 2017 padlet and be sure to indicate which challenge you are responding to.  All contributions will be included in a wrap-up celebration on Friday, April 28th, and one lucky participant, chosen randomly, will select from the following:

Option 1: A set of 8 copies of The Best of Today's Little Ditty: 2014-2015 to use with a classroom or extracurricular group.

Option 2: One copy of The Best of Today's Little Ditty, plus a $20 gift card to purchase a poetry book(s) of your choice.

Option 3: A $25 gift card if you already have all the copies of The Best of TLD you need.

DMC: "Ode to My Coffee Cup" by Rebekah Hoeft

ODE TO MY COFFEE CUP

In half-light, readied, steaming, pink perfect cup,
I held you, warming my palms, a balm.
Relaxed morning breath brought your waking scent;
then first soft sip, familiar to my ears—
our ritual ending in my bittersweet waking.
Why now, Coffee Cup, are you empty? Coffee Cup,
It’s because I am greedy and day is dawned;
it’s time to get up.

© 2017 Rebekah Hoeft. All rights reserved.

Helen Frost has challenged us to write an ode poem this month, following these instructions: 

Choose an object (a seashell, a hairbrush, a bird nest, a rolling pin). It should not be anything symbolic (such as a doll, a wedding ring, or a flag). Write five lines about the object, using a different sense in each line (sight, sound, touch, taste, smell). Then ask the object a question, listen for its answer, and write the question, the answer, or both.

Click HERE to read her sample poem, "Ode to a River."

Post your poem on our March 2017 padlet. All contributions will be included in a wrap-up celebration on Friday, March 31st, and one lucky participant will win a personalized copy of her latest novel-in-poems from Farrar, Straus, and Giroux/Macmillan:

DMC: "At Maybury" by Rebekah Hoeft

AT MAYBURY

We walk, we four, on earthen paths
made silent with damp leaves
that blanket all the space below
and glow above—our lamp. 
Unearthly light is our delight
and earthy scents, a balm.
The woods, they rest, and we—for now—
at peace, know Heaven's calm.

© 2016 Rebekah Hoeft. All rights reserved.



Wishing you calm, love, peace, and kindness, today and every day. Happy Thanksgiving!
                                                                        – Michelle


Ann Rider has challenged us to write poems about places of refuge and solace this month. Click HERE for more details.

Post your poem on our November 2016 padlet. All contributions will be included in a wrap-up celebration TOMORROW Friday, November 25th, and one lucky participant will win a copy of BEFORE MORNING by Joyce Sidman, illustrated by Beth Krommes, courtesy of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Books for Young Readers.

DMC: "I Think I Remember You Danced" by Rebekah Hoeft

I THINK I REMEMBER YOU DANCED

In Lake Placid
In a hotel room
Crowded with the
Pieces of your heart
For once gathered
All under one roof
You danced
Uncharacteristically
On a table
For your delight
Bubbled up
And would not be contained
And since kidlings
And company took up
All sensible space
And your joyful jig
Needed space to call its own
The table
As stable and round
As any hotel table ever is
Was your stage
And laughter and applause
The only accompaniment you needed.

Of course
It was a long drive from Michigan
With a husband
Bickering twins
And a left out little brother
So maybe
You were just glad to be out of the car.

© 2016 Rebekah Hoeft. 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: