DMC: "The Open Door" by Brenda Davis Harsham

THE OPEN DOOR

A brown cardboard package
ker-thumps on my porch.

The open door
creates a cascade.
Icicles scatter-shatter.
Squirrel-tail twitches
before tiny toes flee.
Brown birds heckle and hang
on twig-twanging holly branches.
Rabbits munch ice-crusted clover,
small, round eyes fixed. On me.

I give the cold package a shake.
And a tilt. Bump-whump.
My nose doesn’t quite freeze.

Inside, I slit packing tape,
but some part of me
remains outside
as if my soul is part hound
and the universe has shouted

“Squirrel!”

© 2020 by Brenda Davis Harsham. 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 this Friday, February 28th, and one lucky participant will win a personalized copy of her nonfiction poetry picture book from Millbrook Press:

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: "In a White Kingdom" by Cindy Breedlove

IN A WHITE KINGDOM

A tree-sparkling palace
was built overnight.
So armed with my camera
I took in the sight.
Booted and bundled,
snow-crunching my way,
I captured the beauty
God sent me that day.

© 2020 by Cindy Breedlove. All rights reserved.

Cindy Breedlove

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: "Winter Storm" by Janice Scully

WINTER STORM

Snowflakes bumping
gliding, crashing
down in heavy
storm-silence.

Such bough-drooping
bark-mottling
random artistry!
Watch as it leaves lacy
crystal hieroglyphs
everywhere.

© 2020 by Janice Scully. 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:

Two Line Tuesday: Japanese Proverb

One kind word...

April Barrett

can warm three winter months.

– Japanese proverb

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:

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.

 

 

DMC: "Beauty in Disguise" by Cindy Breedlove

BEAUTY IN DISGUISE

Brown and dry,
they look like weeds.
But there is promise
in their seeds.
Wrapped up tight
to take the cold—
next year's flowers
now on hold.

© 2017 Cindy Breedlove. 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: "Winter Wonderland" by Maria Marshall

WINTER WONDERLAND

Autumn brings change and death.
Every Fall, green hastens into a jumbled
kaleidoscope of leaves.
Marking Nature’s order for
peace and quiet,
rest, solitude, and time.
Under vast white eXpanses,
yielding to zephyrs.

© 2017 Maria Marshall. 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: "A Season of Poems — a Quartet" by Jane Baskwill

A SEASON OF POEMS—A QUARTET

Poems in Winter

Poems in Winter are
Slow to rise,
When storms rattle the window panes,
And wind whistles through cracks,
They shiver and shake and hide undercover,
Not wanting to come out,
Not willing to leave their nest,
Until lured by the snap-crackling of a promise,
Drawn to the warming intoxication of the hearth,
Cold hearts melt as icy fingers thaw,
They curl up by the fire momentarily,
Poems in Winter
Make good kindling.

Poems in Spring

Poems in spring are hopeful,
They start as small shoots to be nurtured
And protected from the whims of nature,
Some germinating too early,
Catching the gardener unaware,
Some awakening from a winter’s rest
Only to die from joyful pruning,
Some growing rapidly,
Taking over their assigned space,
And spreading into others’,
Forcing their presence,
In need of shaping, tending, taming,
They seek attention, consideration, celebration,
Poems in Spring
Rejuvenate the spirit.

Poems in Summer

Poems in Summer
Are a procrastinator’s dream,
They lie about on porches or swings,
Or in the shade of a tree, dozing,
With their eyes closed against the brilliance of day,
When summer breezes blow,
They drift into neighbour’s gardens,
Waiting for someone else to find them,
Caring not for the woes of the world,
Nor if they should live beyond today,
Poems in Summer
Are lazy.

Poems in Fall

Poems in Fall
Explode with colour and embrace their calling,
They drop from leaf-laden trees
Without care or misgiving,
Coming to rest with joy and abandon
They are propelled along pathways and old railway beds,
Moving briskly with stalwart determination,
They gather in piles and heaps, on stoops and verandas,
Impatiently demanding to be,
Poems in Fall
Have an urgency.


© 2017 Jane Baskwill. All rights reserved.


Click HERE to read this month's interview with Melissa Manlove, Senior Editor at Chronicle Books. Her DMC challenge is to write a poem that explores how writing (or a book) is like something else.

Post your poem on our May 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, May 26th. Two lucky participants will win a book published by Chronicle earlier this year: LOVING VS. VIRGINIA by Patricia Hruby Powell, illustrated by Shadra Strickland, or LOVE IS by Diane Adams, illustrated by Claire Keane.

DMC: "Ode to a Hyacinth Glass" by Diane Mayr

ODE TO A HYACINTH GLASS

Once crystalline now coated
with the grime of rotted sheaths
and root hairs shed, your new bulb's 
nascent roots tickle the water
silently absorbing all it needs
to flower. Jewel tones and heady
fragrance, winter consolation.

© 2017 Diane Mayr. 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: "Ode to Wind" by Linda Baie

ODE TO WIND

I feel your power when fireplace ashes stir;
smoke puffed in stings my nose.
Window-tapping of the tree branches
accompanies dog growls and cat yowls.
I shiver-run for the news, taste snow in the wind.
Why not the breeze of yesterday?
Winter conceit.

© 2017 Linda Baie. 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:

Embracing (and bracing for) Change

"Imperial" by Evonne

CHAIR LIFT
          by Maxine W. Kumin  

Nobody holds your hand up there.
You sit alone in your moving chair

It's not as smooth as an elevator.
It's scarier than an escalator.

Under your feet, the snowy humps
Of hills go by with jerks and bumps

And the only sound in the world is the clack
Of the chair lift clanking along its track.

                                                                                       Read the rest HERE. 

From OPENING DAYS: SPORTS  POEMS, selected by Lee Bennett Hopkins (Harcourt Brace & Company, 1996).

The metaphoric chair lift has been clickety-clackety-clanking for many months now. My anxiety has been climbing as well. Now that we've reached the summit, I try to take in the grandeur and possibility of 2017, but I'm distracted by the daunting slope.

I've never been much of a skier. My introduction to downhill skiing was a weekend trip with a group of teenagers, mostly older than myself, all of whom already knew how to ski. The first morning was great—beautiful weather, I had a newbie lesson and mastered the bunny slope. But the afternoon brought sleet and an intermediate run that was well beyond what this bunny could handle. What I remember most was the trail of blue dye that followed me down the mountainside, sliding down on my bottom in brand new jeans. It would have been embarrassing had I not been paralyzed by fear. And yes, I probably could have taken my skis off and walked, but that would have been far too sensible. The second day I feigned illness and had the house all to myself. Far more sensible.

So here we are. As much as I might like to stay home and ignore the challenges ahead, it's not an option. I'm not sure what's on the horizon—politically, creatively, personally. I've got two teens of my own navigating the landscape. Whatever the future holds, it feels big and new and definitely scarier than an escalator.

                    My head is telling me to hold on. 

                                        My heart is urging me to let go.

But first it means heading back to the bunny slope for a refresher course. It means building up my core and balance, and trusting that the chaos I'm feeling right now is exactly where I need to be. To open myself up for something beautiful and extraordinary, though I'm not sure what and when and how. At first I thought my "one little word" for 2017 would be self-love. But then I realized it's not. It's change. Self-love is the means to embrace that change. I've got a new pair of jeans packed and ready for the trip. If you see a trail of blue, make sure to wave.

Photo: Andre Charland

Here's some GREAT news to start off the new year... a new Poetry Friday Power Book by Sylvia Vardell and Janet Wong that's a Children's Book Council "Hot Off the Press” selection for January 2017!  I'm honored have my poem "Look for the Helpers" included in HERE WE GO.  Next week I'll have an in-depth look and a power-packed giveaway.






After that, we'll return to our regularly scheduled programming.  So sharpen your pencils, poets—the Ditty of the Month Club will be back on February 3rd! In the meantime, please visit Laura Purdie Salas at Writing the World for Kids. She's done a wonderful write-up of The Best of Today's Little Ditty, including three poems from the anthology. Thank you, Laura!

Thanks to Violet Nesdoly for hosting this week's Poetry Friday roundup with a post that is perfect for today.

DMC: "Winter Wonder" by Janie Lazo

WINTER WONDER

Swirling, falling bits of heaven
Floating down—whirling round
Gently land on snowy ground
Lying there I feel I'm flying
Through the snow—up I go
Through the whirling, swirling show
Winter's hush is all around me
Silence loud—Winter's shroud
Whispers peace she has endowed
In this perfect world of wonder
Heaven's show—earth aglow
making angels in the snow

© 2016 Janie Lazo. All rights reserved.


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

You have until tomorrow, November 30th, to join in! Post your poem on our November 2016 padlet and I will add it to the wrap-up celebration HERE. 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.

Dear Dog + the Poetry Friday Roundup

Welcome to Poetry Friday!

If you're new to Poetry Friday, have a look HERE to find out what it's all about. I'm looking forward to making the rounds of this week's offerings! 

At Today's Little Ditty, I've been sharing "ME poems" inspired by Lee Bennett Hopkins' Ditty of the Month Club challenge.  According to Lee, a ME poem is based on "one simple moment in your childhood – a thrilling moment, a sad moment, a moment that changed you in some way." Like the little girl in the picture above, I imagine all the children in these poems sitting down to write about the special moments that helped shape their future selves.

This week I featured poems by Linda Mitchell, Michele Krueger, Ellen Leventhal, and Kristi Dee Veitenheimer. Today it's my turn.

DEAR DOG

Was it the snow that set you on edge?
     The swish of my pants?
     The crunch underfoot?
The day I took the shortcut.

Or was it the race–your hunger, my fear?
     The thrill of the chase?
     The moment I slipped?
The day I took the shortcut.

Things might have been different.
We could have been friends
     if you weren’t so mean
     and I wasn’t so tasty.
The day I took the shortcut.

© 2015 Michelle Heidenrich Barnes. All rights reserved.

Believe it or not, next Friday I will be posting the end-of-month wrap-up. If you'd like to participate, please send your poem to TodaysLittleDitty (at) gmail (dot) com, or use the contact form in the sidebar to the right.  I look forward to reading them!

THE POETRY FRIDAY ROUNDUP

Photo: Rick Cameron

Ellie (who is not the dog in my poem) invites you to leave a direct link to your post in the comments along with a short description. I will list them below.

                                       * * * * *

1. Laura Shovan shares her fascination with an uncovered skeleton, a childhood memory of a hurricane, and a storm-inspired poem by Sid Gold at AUTHOR AMOK.

2. Jama Rattigan has sweets for the sweet this week at ALPHABET SOUP: a Marie Antoinette poem by Christie Grimes and a little gallery of wedding cakes.

3. Laura Purdie Salas is in with a nature-inspired riddle-ku at WRITING THE WORLD FOR KIDS.


4. Irene Latham shares a "poetry potpourri" at LIVE YOUR POEM...: a Gwendolyn Brooks poem, a little Einstein, what she's been reading... and more.

5. At RANDOM NOODLING, Diane Mayr has an original a poem inspired by living alone with an active imagination and a cat.  And at KURIOUS KITTY'S KURIO KABINET, a poem by Lisa Williams about grackles, called–what else?–"Grackles."

6. In celebration of Grandparents Day last weekend, CBHANEK shares a touching story about a little girl, a grandma, and a poem you'll recognize about a tree. Also, don't miss her ME poem in response to Lee Bennett Hopkins' challenge HERE.

7. Matt Forrest Esenwine has a bit of everything, including a new poem, a new anthology, and a new CYBILS category he'll be judging, over at RADIO, RHYTHM & RHYME.

8. Linda Baie has a lovely original poem infused with ocean memories at TEACHERDANCE.

9. At A TEACHING LIFE, Tara Smith shares a sigh-worthy poem about the end of summer: "Solitudes" by Margaret Gibson.

10. At A READING YEAR, Mary Lee Hahn's inspirational poem, "To My Students," uses the form Tabatha Yeatts introduced to us a couple weeks ago with the video of Lennon and Maisy.

11. Donna Smith is also sharing an original poem today at MAINELY WRITE. "Aquasphere" is a poem she didn't end up using for SPARK, but here, she illustrates it herself with her new passion for watercolors.

12. Iphigene's heartwrenching original poem at GATHERING BOOKS references three Emily Dickinson poems as it explores a child's coma and a mother's choice.

13. Delighted to see Carol Varsalona is sharing a ME poem at BEYOND LITERACY LINK.  She contrasts her childhood seaside memories with a another original poem titled "Summer Splashings." If you haven't yet checked out Carol's extensive Summer Splashings Gallery (unveiled last weekend), you can do so HERE.

14. At HATBOOKS, Holly Thompson writes about a life-changing moment from her late teen years that pointed her toward Japan–thanks to a pair of geta.

15. Amy Ludwig VanDerwater shares an original poem about change and memories at THE POEM FARM, along with the book and life happenings that inspired it.

16. Tabatha Yeatts has got mindfulness on her mind. She shares "Admit Something" by Hafiz at THE OPPOSITE OF INDIFFERENCE. 

17. Heidi Mordhorst has some happy news to share, including a momentous event in Room 203. She commemorates the occasion with an original poem at MY JUICY LITTLE UNIVERSE.

18. SALLY MURPHY is in this week with a poem she wrote about bird watching and walking.

19. Do you know the difference between a box turtle and a snapping turtle? You will after reading Ruth's original poetry offering today at THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A GOD-FORSAKEN TOWN.

20. Doraine Bennett shares a poem about talking with light by Thomas Aquinas and her own beauty of a ME poem at DORI READS.

21. Catherine at READING TO THE CORE, has been searching for just the right form for her campfire poem. She found it, thanks to Eve Merriam.

22. Penny Parker Klostermann has a yummy collaboration from guests, Sandy Lowe and her granddaughter, Mary, on A GREAT NEPHEW AND A GREAT AUNT.

23. Poets and Doctor Who fans will appreciate this lyrical quotation shared by Little Willow at BILDUNGSROMAN.

24. VIOLET NESDOLY offers a poetic tribute to the founder of her local poetry club: "This is the house that Donna built."

25. Anastasia Suen shares the rhyming picture book, Goodnight Football, on her new WRITING LESSONS blog.

26. Sylvia Vardell is "reverse engineering" The Poetry Friday Anthology for Celebrations. At POETRY FOR CHILDREN, she shows how you can ignore the holidays component and use the book to find poems to match with 156 favorite contemporary picture books for story times and lessons.

27. Janet Squires has a review of Fold Me A Poem by Kristine O'Connell George at ALL ABOUT THE BOOKS.

28. Tricia Stohr-Hunt shares some great consignment shop finds at THE MISS RUMPHIUS EFFECT: books by Elizabeth Spires and Myra Cohn Livingston.

29. In honor of Constitution Day, Jone MacCulloch has Georgia Heard's "A Dream Come True" from The Poetry Friday Anthology for Celebrations at CHECK IT OUT.  She also reveals the roster of 2015 CYBILS poetry judges. (Hooray!)

30. KAREN EDMISTEN is giving us a taste of autumn this week with Arthur Sze's beautiful and poignant "The Shapes of Leaves."

31. Last, but never least, Margaret Simon has been spending the day completing a Dot Day project with her students. Enjoy their collaborative poem on video at REFLECTIONS ON THE TECHE.

Thank you for all of your kind comments today, and especially to those of you who shared your own harrowing dog encounters. Just to set the record straight, while I have moved on from the incident and hold no grudges, sweet Ellie is not mine. (I borrowed her from Flickr Creative Commons.) I'm more of a cat person.

See you next week for the DMC Wrap-Up Celebration!

DMC: "her ashes in a box" by Diane Mayr

her ashes in a box
on the passenger seat
late winter sun
the ground and I will thaw
when the time is right

© 2015 Diane Mayr. 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:

DMC: "City Snowfall" by Matt Forrest Esenwine

City Snowfall

Loud, yellow plow trucks
push new snow aside, away,
for slow-moving cars
that carefully watch us slide
cheering, down the dirty mounds.

© 2015 Matt Forrest Esenwine. 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 on March 27th. One lucky participant will win an autographed copy of Margarita's delightful new picture book:

DMC: "Snow Day" by Linda Mitchell

Snow day, a home day.
Facebook travels fail
my bucket list dreamings
of treks through mountain forests,
Swims through blue green waters.

© 2015 Linda Mitchell. 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 on March 27th. One lucky participant will win an autographed copy of Margarita's delightful new picture book:

Tanka, TOASTS, and Total Madness

"Spring" by Sera Photography

Well, helloooo!  

It seems Spring has decided she's going to arrive after all.


In honor of that fact, I decided to write a tanka about winter. (Huh?) Florida style. It's my contribution for Margarita Engle's Ditty of the Month Club challenge, as well as Carol Varsalona's upcoming Winter Whisperings gallery.

(Now that it's not so frigid anymore, I hope you'll be less likely to pelt me with rotten oranges after reading it!)

I featured four other tanka this week by Margaret Simon, NoNieqa Ramos, Charles Waters, and Linda Baie. Margarita and I are both delighted with what we've seen so far, and there are plenty more on tap!

Speaking of "on tap"... look what else has arrived!

I just received my contributor copies for this lovely little book, where I'm honored to share page space with Charles Ghigna and many others.

For nearly 20 years, June Cotner has been the go-to for blessings, housewarmings, new babies, graces and all of life's rites of passage.  Here, she joins forces with poet and author Nancy Tupper Ling to find the right words for every event.  Toasts: The Perfect Words to Celebrate Every Occasion is the essential reference for any milestone where one needs to raise a glass.

Organized by category, this book contains famous sayings as well as lesser-known, original toasts for nearly every occasion under the sun. Inspiring and reflective, humorous and uplifting, you're bound to find just the right combination of words and tone to suit your needs. The book also contains a brief "Guide to Toasting" which includes key elements, presentation tips, and a few notes on etiquette to help those who lack confidence.

I have two selections in this book. Some of you may already be familiar with one of them, since I shared it for Mother's Day in 2013.  Today, with Charles' permission (Thank you, Charles!), I'd like to share something of his instead... something we NEED to hear:

A TOAST TO SPRING

Bumblebees buzz,

Mockingbirds sing;

Hummingbirds hum–

Welcome Spring!

–Charles Ghigna

HEAR, HEAR!

Now, I know many of you are poets yourselves, and rarely at a loss for words. But I bet you might know someone who would benefit from this book!  That's why I've decided to offer a random giveaway of one of my copies.

If you're interested in entering to win, please let me know in the comments to this post, or reply to one of my messages about the giveaway on Facebook. 

The winner will be announced next week.

Finally, I just wanted to say THANK YOU to everyone who voted for my poem in Round 1 of the March Madness children's poetry tournament. Here it is, for those of you who may have missed it:

          GOAT GARDENERS

          If your lawn is an unruly sight,
          what you need is a KID’s appetite.
          Call I-M-A-GOAT and ask for a quote.
          We freelance – just pennies per bite.

          Forget all that poisonous spray!
          Leave US to your weedy buffet.
          Goats never pollute and we’re awfully cute,
          so act now and CALL US TODAY!

          © 2015 Michelle Heidenrich Barnes. All rights reserved.

It's so exciting to be moving on to Round 2, but before I do, I'm glad I have the opportunity to publicly acknowledge my talented Round 1 opponent, Marcus Ewert, and his beautiful, "impromptu" tribute to Spring.  Keep your eyes peeled for his new rhyming picture book, MUMMY CAT, out this July. I know I will – it looks adorable!

Back in 2013, March Madness was the event that first introduced me to the children's poetry community and the catalyst for me to start Today's Little Ditty.  I was taken with so many of the vibrant children's poems in that year's competition, not the least of which were Marcus'. I honestly believe that it was knowing who I was up against this year that helped me to rise to the occasion and write a poem that I probably would not have otherwise written. Thank you, Marcus! And of course to Mr. Madness, himself – Ed DeCaria.

Next round, I'll be up against the fabulous Kathryn D. Harrison who blew me away with her first round poem, "MISSING:".  I'm as excited as anyone to find out what she has to offer in Round 2!  I hope you will continue to show your support for this fun competition. Every vote you cast is a vote for children's poetry. You can follow along with the competition at Think Kid Think.

Okay. I'm done blabbing now.


Please join Laura Shovan at Author Amok for today's Poetry Friday roundup and also a preview of her "dressed up" National Poetry Month project. 

DMC: "Dear Cold" by Elizabeth Steinglass

Dear Cold,

It’s time for you to go—
you, and your friend, the snow.
We’re all sick to death
of your miserable breath.
So please, take your wind
                                       and blow!
 
Sincerely,
The Daffodils

© 2015 Elizabeth Steinglass. All rights reserved.


David Elliott has challenged us to write a letter poem this month.  I'm still looking for a couple more to feature as this week's daily ditties, so click HERE if you'd like details on how to participate.

RSVP with 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 this Friday, February 27th, and one lucky participant will win a personalized copy of David's delightful new collection of bird poetry: