Two Line Tuesday: Karl Groos

"Timeline: Literary Edition" by Tabatha Yeatts (click on image to enlarge)

We do not stop playing because we grow old, 

we grow old because we stop playing.

– Karl Groos 

Variously attributed to Benjamin Franklin, Oliver Wendell Holmes, 

Herbert Spencer, and George Bernard Shaw, but The Play of Animals by Karl Groos (1896) 

is likely the original source.

Tabatha Yeatts has challenged us to 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. Read Tabatha's reader spotlight HERE and add your poem to this month's padlet.

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.

DMC: "Pups at Play" by Tabatha Yeatts

PUPS AT PLAY

A wee nose-nudge
in a sleeping ear
    earns a grrreeting...
    but she's still sleeping!

He tries a paw-prod,
a leg-chew, a collar-chomp—
    what will it take
    to get her up?

Finally,
she snarl-rolls to her feet,
    Stop gnawing on me
    while I'm trying to sleep!

He tears down the hall
with her fast on his heels—
    playtime has started
    with a roar and retreat!

© 2020 by Tabatha Yeatts. All rights reserved.


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: "Rosemarried" by Tabatha Yeatts

Dandelion seed caught in a spider's web in a rosemary bush, by Sprogz

ROSEMARRIED

Rosemary married Dandelion
on a fine summer's day
and before Basil became Pesto,
they had a baby on the way.

With a fine prickly body
and a wild crop of hair,
this bright little fellow
made the whole garden stare.

They knew where he had been
no matter where he went
for this mane attraction
was truly heavenscent.

© 2019 Tabatha Yeatts. All rights reserved.

TLD reader Kate O'Neil has challenged us to write a poem with words at play—malapropisms, ambiguities, unintended meanings, puns, clichés, etc. Read my interview with Kate HERE and add your wordplay poem to the 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 29th.

DMC: Found Haiku by Kathleen Mazurowski and Tabatha Yeatts

“Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time.” 
          – Thomas Merton, No Man Is an Island


I've certainly been enjoying losing myself in the "found haiku" that folks have been submitting for Linda Mitchell's July ditty challenge! Read last week's interview with Linda HERE.


To give you a taste of what's been contributed so far, here's one by Kathleen Mazurowski that speaks to one of my favorite qualities in a person—being a good listener.

habits of the heart
chutzpah and humility
listen with respect

          found poem by Kathleen Mazurowski
          from Five Habits to Heal the Heart of Democracy by Parker Palmer


I'm also quite taken with this one by Tabatha Yeatts that weaves together science and story.

we beings whose brains
are memory and foresight
time is our story

          found poem by Tabatha Yeatts
          from "This physicist's ideas of time will blow your mind" by Ephrat Livni

As of the writing of this blog post, you'll also find haiku about children, learning, and pushing the limits by Dianne Moritz, Rebekah Hoeft, and Kay Jernigan McGriff, respectively. I think I'll try to add to our "found haiku" padlet this week. How about you?

Jone Rush MacCulloch is hosting this week's Poetry Friday roundup at Deowriter. She shares a trio of poems inspired by a poetry prompt fortune teller!

DMC: "Instructions for a Stop Sign" by Tabatha Yeatts

INSTRUCTIONS FOR A STOP SIGN

In a shifty,
Shifting world,

Be sincerely
Single-minded.

Greet everyone
You see with

Recognizable red—
Offer an

Unmistakable
You.

Be clear
And direct—

Draw our attention away
From everything else

Onto this
One thing:

Becoming
Still.

© 2019 Tabatha Yeatts. 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 on Friday, May 31st, and one lucky participant will win a personalized copy of her fantastic debut poetry collection from WordSong:

DMC: "Advice from a Mature Nail Polish" by Tabatha Yeatts

ADVICE FROM A MATURE NAIL POLISH

You're fresh out of the bag, still got the price tag on ya,
so I thought you could use a few tips from a lady
who's been around the block since before
you were a funny name in search of a color.

First of all, you are gonna LOVE your chance to shine.
(I like the part where they blow on you while you're drying.)
You get to stretch out a little bit, show 'em how tough you can be,
go see the world. You never know what's gonna happen next.

You could end up at a wedding, clapping after a first kiss—
call me a romantic, but I love that stuff—or you could wind up
throwing his clothes on the lawn. (I kind of love that stuff, too.
When you've been in a bottle a while, high drama hits the spot.)

Sometimes she pulls you out, and you gotta bring your best gloss,
leave it all on the nail, you know? Because times are rough. Not
the fun drama, but the walking-through-doctor's-offices kind. The
on-hold-on-the-phone kind. If she looks down, you gotta give her a little sparkle.

Time can be hard on a polish. When you've been sitting in the cabinet
too long, you can forget why you're staying smooth.
It's easy to wrap around that brush and gob up.
Why not just let yourself go stiff? I'll tell you why not.

When that hand arrives for you,
you don't want to miss it. 

© 2018 Tabatha Yeatts. All rights reserved.


Calef Brown has challenged us to write a poem that tells the story of two anthropomorphized objects. They can be an odd couple, close friends, mortal enemies, or meet each other for the first time. The poem can be about an adventure they have together, a conflict, a game they play, anything. Click HERE for more details and to read this month's Spotlight ON interview.

Post your poem on our October 2018 padlet by October 31st. While some contributions will be featured as daily ditties, all contributions will be included in a wrap-up presentation on Friday, November 2nd, and one lucky participant will win a signed copy of Calef Brown's latest collection of ghoulish poetry from Carolrhoda Books:

DMC Encore! "A Rainy Evening with Turn Signal, by Windshield Wiper" by Tabatha Yeatts

When I first read Calef Brown's DMC challenge to write a poem that tells the story of two anthropomorphized objects, this 2015 poem by Tabatha Yeatts immediately came to mind. Even though Tabatha's poem was written for a prior challenge, I wanted to share it again as a wonderful example of what can be done with this month's prompt.

A Rainy Evening with Turn Signal
by Windshield Wiper

love
     me
love
     me
love
     me
I say
     swishing
back
     and forth

most of the time,
I'm silent

I can hear her
ticking
     left left left
or
     right right right
but cannot answer

ah, blessed rain
      that gives me voice

love
      me
I say
love
      me

she is quiet

oh can't we turn?

love
      me?
I say
love
      me?

right right right
she says.

  
                    © 2015 Tabatha Yeatts. All rights reserved.


Calef Brown has challenged us to write a poem that tells the story of two anthropomorphized objects. They can be an odd couple, close friends, mortal enemies, or meet each other for the first time. The poem can be about an adventure they have together, a conflict, a game they play, anything. Click HERE for more details and to read this month's Spotlight ON interview.

Post your poem on our October 2018 padlet by October 31st. While some contributions will be featured as daily ditties, all contributions will be included in a wrap-up presentation on Friday, November 2nd, and one lucky participant will win a signed copy of Calef Brown's latest collection of ghoulish poetry from Carolrhoda Books:

DMC: "Branch Line" by Tabatha Yeatts

Branch Line

How do we make something new?

How do we take that hand, still as a rock, pick up
those heavy, heavy fingers and push ourselves,
force our way through all that protective bone,
move past the little shocks of neurons trying to
ride their carts down their usual tracks?

So tempting to pull our hands back, let those
familiar travellers roll unimpeded along the line,
arriving on schedule. But today, here you are,
rushing before those clattery wheels,
laying fresh tracks the second before they dart past,
keeping them from falling into oblivion below.

They spin, you go on, pounding down one
after another, dropping them out
of your fingertips, you frenzied engineer,
and, lo, a new destination.

© 2018 Tabatha Yeatts. 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:

In case you didn't know, I am IMPERFECT

"Escape" by Amelia Whelan

Life is a succession of lessons which must be lived to be understood.

                    – Ralph Waldo Emerson


This Emerson quote is my favorite from Imperfect: Poems About Mistakes: An Anthology for Middle Schoolers, edited by Tabatha Yeatts. It's one of several that are scattered throughout the collection, interspersed with 70 poems by 50 poets (many of whom will be familiar to TLD readers). I'm honored to be among them.

Visit the Team Imperfect blog for purchasing links.

Not all of the poems in Imperfect are about life lessons. You'll find the full gamut—mistakes born from ignorance or naiveté; mistakes that lead to invention, pain, or laughter; silly and fanciful poems about mistake-making; poems about self-discovery and finding one's place in the world; and yes, poems about life lessons and how we move on from them. You'll also find a thoughtful introduction by Tabatha, and useful back matter about making good decisions, apologizing effectively, and a few poetic forms readers can try.

It's fantastic that this anthology addresses middle schoolers directly. Has anyone come out of those awkward, uncomfortable years unscathed? I know I didn't. I do hope teachers, parents, and other caregivers will recognize that this anthology will be helpful to more than just middle schoolers, however. Judging by my children's experiences, I'd say it more accurately spans 4th grade to 9th grade.

The take home here is to make sure Imperfect is ready and waiting for whenever it's needed—that moment when a child reaches out to a book, rather than a person, for private reassurance. Chances are, it will happen.

Reading numerous reviews that have popped up from week to week (I particularly enjoyed this interview with Tabatha), I've been deliberating over which of my Imperfect poems I'd like to share. The one I keep coming back to is "To the boy playing with his army men on the front lawn," but to be honest, I've been reluctant. It's the most personal of the three, by far. Mistakes are hard to confess to when they happen, but sometimes they're even difficult to own up to decades later! It's one thing to see my poem on the page, but another entirely to talk about it openly in a blog post. My reluctance is why I know I must.

TO THE BOY PLAYING WITH HIS ARMY
MEN ON THE FRONT LAWN:

They say that everyone is fighting some kind of battle,
but I have no good excuse for my surprise attack—
a ride-by on bicycle, words flung like a grenade.
I wanted to hear the pop of the pin,
taste the insult in my mouth,
feel my heart pound in the moments before the blast.
And then it was done.
(I couldn't take it back.)
I pedal away feeling like the enemy—
even to myself.

                    – Michelle Heidenrich Barnes

Part of the reason I've been reluctant to share this poem is because the backstory involves more than just myself.

It involves the victim, of course, but I can be fairly sure of protecting his anonymity since I don't even recall his name. If I replay the event in my mind (which I have, over and over), the words weren't all that demeaning. Despite him looking up when I passed, I'm not even sure he clearly heard what I said or thought much about it. He might have—I didn't stick around long enough to find out. But I know very well what I intended. It wasn't about the words. It was the fact that I spontaneously made a choice to hurt his feelings, and the cutting manner in which I put him down.

What makes this mistake particularly difficult to talk about is the fact that it also involves someone I love and care about—my brother. Four years my senior, we were never all that close growing up. We didn't even attend the same schools at the same time. But those who knew my family back then might recall that he struggled to find his place at school—he was teased and bullied. And, by the way, he played with miniature army men. Back then, lots of children grew up playing war. Still do, I imagine.

Jay Javier

Although my brother was not the direct victim of my ride-by attack, he was the indirect, unknowing victim. Ultimately this poem is about my own insecurity. Even though we never went to school together, when you grow up in a small suburb, word gets around among students. Especially students with siblings. And fear is a powerful motivator. Despite the fact that I did "fit in" socially, I was afraid that if I ever stuck up for my older brother, I would bear the consequences. So what did I do? In this instance, I took out my fear of being bullied on someone else. I became the bully. For someone who values compassion as highly as I do, this was a tough pill to swallow. I still feel the heartburn.

Thankfully, this story has a happy ending. (Not all bullying stories do.) My brother turned out fine despite his social struggles at school—something else that's incredibly important for middle schoolers to hear! He turned out better than fine, actually. I'm so proud of the way he's challenged himself throughout his life, his many notable achievements, the respect he garners from his peers, and his incredible ability to create opportunities for himself. Most of all, I'm proud to be his sister.

* * Enter to win a hardcover copy of Imperfect at The Children's Book Review. * * 

I know it doesn't seem fair (I haven't gotten around to writing mine yet either), but believe it or not, there's only one week to go before our wrap-up celebration of window poems! This week's featured ditties included work by Rebekah Hoeft, Donna JT Smith, Dianne Moritz, and Rosi Hollinbeck. Linda Mitchell, Linda Baie, and Jone Rush MacCulloch share poems today at their own blogs. Don't forget to leave your window poem on our May 2018 padlet!

Rebecca Herzog has this week's Poetry Friday roundup at Sloth Reads, along with a fabulous review and giveaway of I'm Just No Good at Rhyming by Chris Harris and illustrated by Lane Smith. (Yep. The same award-winning Lane Smith who illustrated this month's DMC featured book: a house that once was!)

DMC: "relative distance" by Tabatha Yeatts

relative distance

distance is farther
in the dark.

mom and dad
downstairs
watching tv in a
  lit room

are a light year away
from awake me
upstairs in bed in a
  dark room.

if someone or something
that doesn't fear
the dark is up here
  with me,

the quickest way
to close this giant
ghostly gap might be a
  scream.

© 2017 Tabatha Yeatts. All rights reserved.


Click HERE to read this month's interview with Carrie Clickard. Her DMC challenge is to write a poem about a person, place, or thing that spooked you as a child.

Post your poem on our October 2017 padlet. While some contributions will be featured as daily ditties this month, all contributions will be included in a wrap-up celebration this Friday, October 27th, and one lucky participant will win a personalized copy of her enchanting new picture book from Holiday House:

DMC: "attentiveness blessing" by Tabatha Yeatts

attentiveness blessing

cast down each frozen fear,
gently guide hate to
imagine justice,

know less,
maintain the magic of
noticing,

never neglect nuance,
or offerings that open
precious qualities-
rare and shared-

thank unlucky, uphill
vexing winds that wing
yesterday's yardstick to
zero.

© 2017 Tabatha Yeatts. 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: "Joan of Arc" by Tabatha Yeatts

In April 2015, Kwame Alexander challenged us to write one of his favorite forms of poetry—the clerihew. For a form that was invented in the late 19th century, it feels much more contemporary than that. These short biographical poems are a great way to lighten the mood and poke fun at just about anyone! Today, Tabatha Yeatts shows us how it's done.


JOAN OF ARC

Joan of Arc
Had a glorious bark
And a mighty fighty bite
So she ended alight

© 2017 Tabatha Yeatts. 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 this 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: "She hears from her creative voice" by Tabatha Yeatts

She hears from her creative voice

The other voices—loud and grim—
clamor so I can't come in—

They draw your eye, confound your ear,
make me feel unwelcome here.

My steps are light, my scent is slight—
I come to you most every night

in dreams you might remember when
you exile the others and let me in.


© 2017 Tabatha Yeatts. All rights reserved.


Jeannine Atkins has challenged us to write a poem that uses personified feeling. For more details, click HERE. Jeannine offers the following guidance to those feeling stuck:

"Maybe start with a character in motion and think of her main feeling. Then let her or him speak to Joy, Anxiety, Peaceful Nature, Curiosity, Grief, etc to set a dialog back and forth. Or here's a prompt: Happiness, where are you? — let Happiness answer."

Post your poem on our February 2017 padlet.  All contributions will be included in a wrap-up celebration on Friday, February 24th, and one lucky participant will win a personalized copy of her latest novel-in-verse from Atheneum Books/Simon & Schuster:

DMC: "Learning to Read" by Tabatha Yeatts

LEARNING TO READ

Tromping my way down the line,
Tussling one word at a time—
It was either them or me.

I persevered, muscles flexed,

First one word and then the next,
Speaking them aloud slowly.

They raised the white flag, this batch,
During our word-wrestling match,
As they told their tale to me. 

© 2016 Tabatha Yeatts. All rights reserved.


Jane Yolen has challenged us to write a septercet that features reading or writing this month. What is a septercet?  Click HERE for more details.

Post your poem on our September 2016 padlet. All contributions will be included in a wrap-up celebration this Friday, September 30th, and one lucky participant will win a personalized copy of her fabulous new collection of science poetry:

Poetry in Action: Tabatha Yeatts and Kate Bush

Curious humpback inspecting diver, NOAA, public domain

Tabatha Yeatts has been sharing poem-song match-ups at her blog, The Opposite of Indifference. She's posted quite a few already (click HERE to take a look) and has invited others to join in the fun.

The only thing that gives me as much pleasure as posting my favorite poetry is posting music that I love, sooo....

Grab your scuba gear. 
It's Music Monday and we're going in.

Today I'll be showcasing one of my most favorite poems that Tabatha's written, and coupling it with the incomparable Kate Bush.

Here's Tabatha's poem (used by permission), which she posted on her blog in November 2013:

Geppetto in the Whale
     by Tabatha Yeatts

I awake, my head in my arms,
  and draw in the wet air. Still alive.
Beyond my tangled cocoon,
  sounds collide and crash --
the endless pounding of his
       heart,
rivers of blood roaring past.

I stand, pressing my callused palms
  against the vast wall --
and feel the vibrations
  of his
       breath:
the entrance, the exit, a circle of wind.

My fingers run
  across his smooth, slippery sides;
fingers which have pried
  shapes from wood, daubed on eyes
and prayed for sight,
  trying to craft
      this
undulating pulse of life.

Listening to the whale's ferocious orchestra,
  I believe if I were granted wood,
I could devise a puppet right there,
  in the dark. I could clothe it
with my own jacket,
  fill it with story,
give it
       life
with my own two hands.

After deliberating far too long about which of two Kate Bush songs to pair with Tabatha's poem, I finally decided to match it with both.

Go ahead, call me a rebel– I dare ya! 

I do think you'll agree, however, listening to these songs sequentially presents a more accurate reflection of Tabatha's poem than either song would by itself. Besides which, two vintage 1978 Kate Bush videos are always better than one!

The first song, "Moving," picks up on the fluidity of Tabatha's poem as well as her references to wetness and the "undulating pulse of life," both echoed in Kate Bush's lyrics:

Moving liquid
Yes, you are just as water.
You flow around all that comes in your way.
Don't think it over,
It always takes you over,
And sets your spirit dancing.

Oh, and did I mention the use of whale song in the recording? Well there's a no-brainer.

The second song, "The Kick Inside," pairs beautifully with Tabatha's last stanza in particular. Besides the obvious connection between pregnancy and Geppetto engulfed by the whale, you can also interpret "the kick inside" as a metaphor for creativity and Geppetto's urgent desire to craft a puppet right then and there, "fill it with story" and "give it life." My goodness, that gives me chills.

Both of these songs, by the way, are from Kate Bush's debut album, also titled THE KICK INSIDE.
 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udLOPLhUiJo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5Kz26VSpqg

DMC: "A Rainy Evening with Turn Signal, by Windshield Wiper" –Tabatha Yeatts

A Rainy Evening with Turn Signal
by Windshield Wiper

love
     me
love
     me
love
     me
I say
     swishing
back
     and forth

most of the time,
I'm silent

I can hear her
ticking
     left left left
or
     right right right
but cannot answer

ah, blessed rain
      that gives me voice

love
      me
I say
love
      me

she is quiet

oh can't we turn?

love
      me?
I say
love
      me?

right right right
she says.

  
                    © 2015 Tabatha Yeatts. All rights reserved.


Marcus Ewert has challenged us to write love poems this month– about relationships that seem unrequited, but which end up being requited after all. 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, October 30th, and one lucky participant will win an autographed copy of his fabulous new picture book:

DMC: "A Star Among Stars" by Tabatha Yeatts

A STAR AMONG STARS

Cecilia Payne
had a wonderfilled brain.
She ascertained the element
hydrogen was prevalent.

© 2015 Tabatha Yeatts. All rights reserved.

Cecilia Helena Payne Gaposchkin, Smithsonian Institution Archives

From Tabatha:

In 1925, Cecilia Payne explained in her astronomy Ph.D. thesis how to figure out what chemical elements stars are made of by decoding the spectra of starlight.

Read more about her here: http://www.usasciencefestival.org/schoolprograms/2014-role-models-in-science-engineering/879-cecilia.html

Kwame Alexander has challenged us to write a clerihew this month. What's a clerihew, you ask? Click HERE for details.

Send your funny four-liner 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, April 24th. One lucky participant will win an autographed copy of THE CROSSOVER, which received the 2015 John Newbery Medal for the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children.

DMC: "The chill says 'morning'" by Tabatha Yeatts

The chill says "morning,"
says "alive" as layers of light
unfurl for crows overhead
they call, respond --
they know where they're going. 

© 2015 Tabatha Yeatts. All rights reserved.


Margarita Engle has challenged us to write a tanka this month. She suggests we think of it as a five-line travel diary about a subject of our choice. Click HERE for more details.

Send your tanka 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 this Friday, March 27th. One lucky participant will win an autographed copy of Margarita's delightful new picture book: