Stay tuned . . .

"Pistache et le hérrison" by myri_bonnie

Oh dear. 

Someone is NOT happy that there's no Spotlight ON interview today. 

I'm sorry. Due to a family medical emergency this week, I have not been able to finish it in time. I fully expect it will be up next week, though!

What's that you say? You want to know who I'll be interviewing?

Well, I guess I owe you that much.

IT'S CALEF BROWN!!!

Stay tuned, my friends. You won't want to miss it. 

And since you were nice enough to stop by, I'll also announce the winner of last week's giveaway.

Thanks again to everyone who contributed poems with questions for last month's challenge by Naomi Shihab Nye! If you missed last week's wrap-up celebration, you can find it HERE. As is often the case, a few more poems showed up at the last minute, so I encourage you to take another look at the entire collection.


The winner of a personalized copy of VOICES IN THE AIR: POEMS FOR LISTENERS (Greenwillow Books, 2018) is . . .

CATHERINE FLYNN

Congratulations, Catherine!

For today's Poetry Friday offering, I invite you to take a peek at my poem "Mass Ascension" which was recently published in THE POETRY OF US, edited by J. Patrick Lewis (National Geographic, 2018). Many thanks to Buffy Silverman for featuring it today, along with her own and a couple more poems by Renée LaTulippe and Liz Steinglass. I'm honored to be in such grand company!

And speaking of grand company, you'll always find a warm welcome at the Poetry Friday roundup, hosted this week by Tabatha Yeatts at The Opposite of Indifference.

Monday Musing: Election Season

All your life, you will be faced with a choice.

You can choose love or hate. 

I choose love.

                                                                         – Johnny Cash

I've never disliked politics more than I do right now, so this election season I'm letting my voice be heard in my own way.  

Yard sign designed by Panhandle Slim. 
(Google "Panhandle Slim Artist" and click on "images" to view more of his work.)

A message from the children of Johnny Cash.

September DMC Wrap-Up Celebration + Giveaway

"Unsure of the Next Step" by Ariel Dovas

"...language can carry us to understanding, and connect us to things that matter in our lives. For those of us who trust poetry and the power of linkage that poetry gives us, it's a way of sitting quietly with words and letting them lead us somewhere."

          – Naomi Shihab Nye


The above quote by Naomi Shihab Nye was taken from an interview with Bill Moyers. She goes on to explain how the power of words—of poetry—is not born from proclaiming things, but from discovering things.

"Words can give us something back if you trust them."

                                 – Naomi Shihab Nye

Earlier this month, Naomi asked TLD readers to trust the process of poetry. She challenged us to write letters to ourselves (not necessarily in standard letter format) in which we ask some questions that we don't have to answer.

The challenge was a doorway to discovering ourselves . . .

"Old Stone Door of Perception" by msutherland1

through the writing of our own poems, of course, but also through reading and connecting with others' poems. The questions in these poems resonated far beyond one individual experience. By paying attention to each others' stories, we were able to recognize our shared humanity.

My sincere thanks to everyone who shared glimpses of themselves, and most of all to Naomi Shihab Nye for inspiring this beautiful collection worth pondering.


Scroll through the poems below, or for best viewing, CLICK HERE.

If this challenge has got you thinking about the letter you might write to yourself, post your poem with questions on our September 2018 padlet by Sunday, September 30, 2018, and I will add it to the wrap-up presentation.

Participants in this month's challenge will automatically be entered to win a personalized copy of Voices in the Air: Poems for Listeners by Naomi Shihab Nye (Greenwillow Books, 2018). One entry per participant, not per poem.

Alternatively, you may enter the giveaway by commenting below. Comments must be received by Monday, October 1st. If you contribute a poem and comment below, you will receive two entries in total.

The winner will be chosen by Random.org and announced next Friday, October 5th, when we reveal next month's interview and ditty challenge.

Good luck!

Jone Rush MacCulloch is celebrating a GREAT morning of poetry! You'll find her hosting this week's Poetry Friday roundup at Deowriter.

DMC: "Standing on a Dock in the Lake" by Juanita Havill

Standing on a Dock in the Lake

If I can’t see the bottom of the lake,
should I jump in?

If once a moss-slick snag poked my leg when I plunged
deep below the surface . . .

If a long, thin murky creature slips into the water
(Is that a snake?) . . .

If a hungry pike big enough to eat a child is cruising
the depths . . .

If that log floating near shore is a ravenous snapping turtle
ready to snap . . .

If the lake right here off the end of the dock is deeper
than the deep  I think I know . . .

If the water is so cold that it cramps my stomach . . .

If powerful hidden currents twirl and swirl
me far out to the middle of the lake . . .

If I am all alone with no one to hear me scream,
“HELP!” . . .

Should I jump in the lake?

Do I have to answer these questions?

Or do I close my eyes and jump?

© 2018 Juanita Havill. 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. All contributions will be included in a wrap-up presentation tomorrow, Friday, September 28th, and one lucky participant will win a personalized copy of her latest collection of poetry from Greenwillow Books:

DMC: "September Garden" by Elizabeth Steinglass

September Garden

I pet the patient lambs ears,     
squirt the cherry tomatoes
into my cheek. I check the milkweed
for tiny yellow eggs, hover near
the sky-blue morning glories
and remember my grandmother’s eyes.
I wait for hummingbirds to pierce
the scarlet salvia and spot
papa goldfinch surfing the echinacea.
Soon the garden will fade to beige,
and all I’ll have are the long grasses
gone to seed and the question
that sustains me all winter:
what will I plant next spring? 

© 2018 Elizabeth Steinglass. 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 this Friday, September 28th, and one lucky participant will win a personalized copy of her latest collection of poetry from Greenwillow Books:

DMC: A cherita by Maria Marshall

moving every year or two

changing towns and schools
was tough enough

why would the teacher
sing the West-Side Story song*
every day for roll?

© 2018 Maria Marshall. All rights reserved.

* “I just met a girl named, Maria….”


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 this Friday, September 28th, and one lucky participant will win a personalized copy of her latest collection of poetry from Greenwillow Books:

DMC: "All the Earliest Poems are Prayers" by Linda Mitchell

All the Earliest Poems are Prayers

          "All the earliest poems are prayers."
                    ~ Robert Hass, National Book Festival 2018

We search and search for the word, the gesture, the thing in all
that’s cracked and broken. Is it possible to tend to all the
Humpty Dumpties we rush to—we triage in the earliest
moments after their falls? We recite petitionary poems
for cures and repair. We forget that what we need also are
Silences, moments of golden rule—good and honest prayers

© 2018 Linda Mitchell. All rights reserved.

Click on image to enlarge.

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 this Friday, September 28th, and one lucky participant will win a personalized copy of her latest collection of poetry from Greenwillow Books: