Today's Little Ditty: sky

The United Nations General Assembly has declared 21 September to be the International Day of Peace—"a day devoted to strengthening the ideals of peace, through observing 24 hours of non-violence and cease-fire." This year's theme is "Shaping Peace Together." We are invited to "celebrate the day by spreading compassion, kindness and hope in the face of the pandemic. Stand together with the UN against attempts to use the virus to promote discrimination or hatred. Join us so that we can shape peace together."

Tuesday, September 3, 2019

Two Line Tuesday: Toni Morrison

Brian Wolfe

If you surrendered to the air,

you could ride it.

– Toni Morrison

from Song of Solomon

Thursday, October 25, 2018

DMC: "Conversation on a Darkening Day" by Buffy Silverman

CONVERSATION ON A DARKENING DAY

I dress up blue skies
with castles and dragons,
rabbits and spaceships,
pirates and swans,

until I grow heavy,
turn weepy and gray.
My tears rattle rooftops
and wash over lawns.

Don’t hold back your tears,
your gray weepy ways.
Let your castles collapse
and fall to my crown.

Your dragons tame fires
and quench thirsty roots.
Keep wailing and weeping,
keep soaking my ground.

© 2018 Buffy Silverman. 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:

Monday, April 30, 2018

Poetry Postcard: "The snowy wind blows"

From the Silver Star Elementary Poetry Postcard Project, Vancouver, WA, April 2018

Closing out National Poetry Month with a special postcard I received in the mail this weekend.

Doesn't Jaedyn paint beautiful imagery with words and imagination?

What a talented 5th grader!

Thanks to Jone Rush MacCulloch for this wonderful postcard project, and to the students at Silver Star Elementary in Vancouver, WA for sharing their hearts and words.

Apparently, I never posted last year's postcard on the blog (?!) . . .

Ode to Spring

Flowers blowing in the wind

Quietness everywhere

I feel at home where it feels nice

I taste the wind in the air

I wonder how it is so beautiful

Because of the world

Bentley C.

Grade 2

The postcard I received in 2016, about sadness, can be found HERE.

The postcard I received in 2015, about a preposterous panda, can be found HERE.

The one I received in 2014, about a fantastic frog, can be found HERE.

Tuesday, February 27, 2018

Two Line Tuesday: George Bernard Shaw

Boris Thaser

I'm not a teacher:

only a fellow traveler of whom you asked the way.

– George Bernard Shaw

Thursday, February 15, 2018

DMC: "Epitaph for a Blue Balloon" by Michelle Heidenrich Barnes

"Lonely Blue Balloon" by Scott Richards

EPITAPH FOR A BLUE BALLOON

Here lies Blue,

dear departed
pioneer of skies uncharted.
Friend of downy clouds on high,
an easy breezy kind of guy.
Fearless till the day he lost
his helium—then tempest-tossed,
he realized flight was not his calling
at the moment he was falling.

Here are some scenes from Blue's travels . . .

(Best viewed full screen.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bsbewm0GM2w

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.

Daily ditties this week included poems by Cynthia Cotten, Dianne Moritz, Randi Sonenshine, and Ellen Leventhal. Liz Steinglass is sharing hers today. To be included in next week's wrap-up celebration, post your poem on our February 2018 padlet.

Jone MacCulloch is hosting this week's Poetry Friday roundup at Check it Out.

Tuesday, November 28, 2017

Two Line Tuesday: Rabindranath Tagore

Hernán Piñera

Clouds come floating into my life, no longer to carry rain

or usher storm, but to add color to my sunset sky.

– Rabindranath Tagore

from Stray Birds

Carol Hinz has challenged us to write poems that find beauty in things that are not usually considered beautiful. You have until Thursday, November 30th, at 5:00 pm (EST) to join in! Post your poem on our November 2017 padlet and I will add it to the wrap-up presentation HERE.

Thursday, November 23, 2017

DMC: "Puddle Wonderful" by B.J. Lee

PUDDLE WONDERFUL

boring brown puddles,
on bring-your-umbrella days,
transform in bright sun
into billowing-cloud skyscapes
or shimmering rainbow art

© 2017 B.J. Lee. 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 tomorrow, 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.

Tuesday, February 28, 2017

Two Line Tuesday: Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson

Flickr Creative Commons

Do not complain beneath the stars

about the lack of bright spots in your life.

– Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson

Thursday, November 17, 2016

DMC: "Night" by Michelle H. Barnes

NIGHT

I wear the sky like a silken gown
flecked with silver stitches.
Cool as a breeze and light on my feet,
I drift through the street, unfettered and free,
then slip
away
with the dawn.

© 2016 Michelle Heidenrich Barnes. All rights reserved.

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 on 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.

Tuesday, March 31, 2015

Two Line Tuesday: Lawrence Ferlinghetti

"Imagine" by MeganAllen

Poetry is the shadow

cast by our streetlight imaginations.

– Lawrence Ferlinghetti

Monday, June 9, 2014

DMC: "Sky Calling" by M. H. Barnes

Sylvia Vardell and Janet Wong have challenged us to come up with a Poem Movie or a Poem Picture this month. (Click here for details.)

Having never explored video technology before, a 14 year old techno whiz (who also happens to be my son) gave me a crash course in the basics of iMovie. I'm presenting my video early on with the hope that you'll also be inspired to give movie-making a try!

The poem featured in my movie is one that I originally posted on my blog last August. Hope you enjoy its reincarnation.

If you would like to be in the running for a copy of THE POETRY FRIDAY ANTHOLOGY FOR SCIENCE, please send your video or picture file to TodaysLittleDitty (at) gmail (dot) com. Alternatively, feel free to host it on your own blog, on You Tube, or elsewhere online and just send me the link. I look forward to sharing your work with others!

Tuesday, October 8, 2013

Two Line Tuesday: G. K. Chesterton

There are no rules of architecture

for a castle in the clouds.

- G. K. Chesterton

Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Two Line Tuesday: Pema Chödrön

You are the sky.

Everything else is just weather.

-Pema Chödrön

Friday, August 23, 2013

Sky Calling

The Museum of Art, Kochi, Japan, via Wikimedia Commons

Last Friday, I was inspired by B. J. Lee's mask poem. A mask, or persona, poem allows the voice of your chosen subject to speak its own thoughts and feelings, and B. J.'s poem is a wonderful example of how a writer can give life to an inanimate object through this form. Having decided to give it a go myself, today's little ditty is about the skylight pictured above.

Sky Calling

Caught in the place

between here and beyond,

I show you vast worlds

of dream and possibility

which I, myself, cannot inhabit,

for I must stand strong

until I am shattered

and imagine what it might be like

to spread my wings and soar,

yearning for more,

while you stare right through me

as if I wasn’t even there.

I Think in Poems is our beacon for today's Poetry Friday celebration. Many thanks to Betsy for hosting the round up!

But before you go...

Anastasia Suen visited Today's Little Ditty earlier this week with a haiku for the Haiku Garden. You can view that post here.

Also, I finally created a professional writer's page for myself on Facebook here. If you're on Facebook too, how about liking me? (I really am a nice person, I promise.)