DMC: "Jenny Dump'd Me," a paroditty by J. Patrick Lewis

JENNY DUMP'D ME 
     [A paroditty of Leigh Hunt's "Jenny Kiss'd Me"]

Jenny dump’d me when we met,
Bolting from the store she walked in;
Time, that burglar, stole my pet
Seconds after I had clocked in.
Say I’m happy nonetheless.
Say that life has not speed-bump’d me.
Say whatever. I confess,
Jenny dump’d me.

© J. Patrick Lewis. All rights reserved.


David L. Harrison has challenged us to write poems inspired by the word "ditty" this month. 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 this Friday, February 26th, and one lucky participant will win a copy of his newest collection for children:

For an additional chance to win, write a poem inspired by "leaves" for David's Word of the Month (W.O.M.) challenge HERE. 

DMC: "Grandma's Ditties" by Linda Mitchell

GRANDMA'S DITTIES

In the history of ditties
there’s none so silly
as those Grandma knows
from when she was young.
Like…..

     Tap tap-tap tap tap, tap TAP!
     Shave and-a haircut, two bits

Or,
When running a bath
She makes me laugh
with a cheerful sea-side tune.

     By the sea, by the sea
     by the beautiful sea,
     you and me, you and me
     oh how happy we’ll be.

And what about
my first day of school tummy?
Full of butterfly nerves tummy?
Her wisdom in song
helps me along.

     Make new friends
     but keep the old
     one is silver
     but the other gold.

And sometimes
at bedtime
Gran is outrageous
as I pull on my PJ’s
and brush my teeth
she’ll call out a ditty
that no joke can beat.

     Fatty and Skinny had a race
     Up and down the pillow case
     Fatty shouted it’s not fair
     Skinny lost his underwear!

I giggle and wriggle
into bed for the night,
pull up the covers and
turn out the light.
Grandma sings a ditty
before I sleep:

     I love you
     a bushel and a peck
     a bushel and a peck
     and a kiss around
     the neck.

If I’m ever a Gran,
it’s my plan
to be a little silly
with those I love.
Tapping, singing, rhyming too
If there’s ever time
for a little ditty or two.

© 2016 Linda Mitchell. All rights reserved.


David L. Harrison has challenged us to write poems inspired by the word "ditty" this month. 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 this Friday, February 26th, and one lucky participant will win a copy of his newest collection for children:

For an additional chance to win, write a poem inspired by "leaves" for David's Word of the Month (W.O.M.) challenge HERE. 

Thinking About World Thinking Day

Purchase the teacher/librarian edition
or the student edition at Amazon.com.

Would you believe it's been nearly a year since the release of THE POETRY FRIDAY ANTHOLOGY FOR CELEBRATIONS? (Pomelo Books, March 4, 2015)

Apparently some of us have been too busy celebrating to notice.

I did notice, however, that this bilingual collection of 156 holiday poems selected by Sylvia Vardell and Janet Wong was recently included on the 2016 list of "Notable Books for a Global Society" by the Children's Literature and Reading Special Interest Group (CL/R SIG) of the International Reading Association!  Party on!

I'm fortunate to have two of my own poems included in this fun educational resource. Last May I shared the first, "Look For the Helpers," in celebration of World Red Cross Day.  Today I'm sharing the other for World Thinking Day, this Monday.

World Thinking Day is celebrated annually on February 22nd by Girl Scouts and Girl Guides worldwide.  It's a day of international friendship— an opportunity to connect with the Girl Scout/Girl Guide sisterhood, ten million strong across 146 countries. They learn about different cultures and customs, and also discuss important issues that affect girls and young women around the globe, like lack of education or clean water.

I was a Girl Scout leader for four years until our troop disbanded due to some of the girls moving away and others changing schools. It was a wonderful, cohesive group for the time it was together, though, and one of their favorite activities was taking part in World Thinking Day. Here they are the year we chose Guyana to research and celebrate:

Girl Scout Troop 1520

Do they look like a great bunch of girls or what?

And here's my poem from THE POETRY FRIDAY ANTHOLOGY FOR CELEBRATIONS to commemorate the event:

Thinking About World Thinking Day
     by Michelle Heidenrich Barnes

We are Girl Scout Troop 1520:
ten girls from a family of ten million.
Around the world, we join together—
across Egyptian deserts,
the rainforests of Guyana,
and Australian bushland.
We taste Irish soda bread,
Indian dal,
and fresh coconut from Fiji.
We learn customs and crafts,
games and traditions,
and explore how we are different,
yet very much the same.
We make a friendship circle
with our sisters across borders, 
and promise each other
to make the world a better place.

As I did with World Red Cross Day, I also created a video for the occasion. It's significantly less polished than my "Look For the Helpers" video, but I recruited some scouts from my daughter's new troop to help me out, and boy, was it fun! You can watch it HERE.

Find this video and other goodies on PoetryCelebrations.com – home and party central 

for THE POETRY FRIDAY ANTHOLOGY FOR CELEBRATIONS.

Thank you for all the feedback and encouragement in response to last Friday's blog post!

February's DMC challenge from David Harrison is well underway. This week's featured "ditty"-inspired ditties included ones by Jone Rush MacCulloch, Janie Lazo, Jane Yolen, and Karen Eastlund. Carol Varsalona posted one this week on Beyond Literacy Link and Linda Baie has posted another today at TeacherDance. See you here next Friday for our wrap-up celebration!

And speaking of celebrations... Donna JT Smith is hosting a "Between Other Celebrations Celebration Day" over at Mainely Write.  Let me grab my party hat and I'll meet you over there for the  Poetry Friday roundup!

DMC: "Ditty" by Karen Eastlund

DITTY

Dites-nous
Little ditty
Why your verse
Feels so giddy
Why your tempo
And rhyme
Fill our heads

Though your bloodline’s
Mundane
Perhaps some
Feel disdain
But most find you
On rerun instead

Ecoutez
Little ditty
There’s no need
For pity
We love all your
Whimsy and bounce

When we hear
Your refrain
We don’t cringe
Or complain
We just join you for fun
That’s what counts!

© 2016 Karen Eastlund. All rights reserved.


David L. Harrison has challenged us to write poems inspired by the word "ditty" this month. 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, February 26th, and one lucky participant will win a copy of his newest collection for children:

For an additional chance to win, write a poem inspired by "leaves" for David's Word of the Month (W.O.M.) challenge HERE. 

DMC: "Another Poem About A Ditty" by Jane Yolen

ANOTHER POEM ABOUT A DITTY

It’s an ear worm,
A stitch
It’s a son
of an itch
It won’t leave you alone
For a minute.

You hear it
And then
It repeats
Once again,
It’s a dittyable
Pitiable
Sin—it

Makes you feel
Foolish
And yet somewhat
Coolish
Restating it
Gives you a
Rise.

So you keep
On repeating
Your heart
Faster beating,
Each word in it
Now
A surprise.

It’s surely an itch
You continue
to scratch
Till the blood
That you draw
Drowns the room.

And I tell you
That ditty,
Small, wicked
(not pretty)
will surely
lead you
to your doom.

© 2016 Jane Yolen. All rights reserved.


David L. Harrison has challenged us to write poems inspired by the word "ditty" this month. 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, February 26th, and one lucky participant will win a copy of his newest collection for children:

For an additional chance to win, write a poem inspired by "leaves" for David's Word of the Month (W.O.M.) challenge HERE. 

DMC: "Ditty Love" by Janie Lazo

DITTY LOVE

Inside my head– a poem– a song.
Sometimes they're short; sometimes quite long.
These ditties come and must be shared.
A ditty here– a ditty there.
They do the things that ditties do–
They make us laugh; they make us blue.
I jot them on the go a lot,
Pull off the road – write down that thought.
I fear I've caught a ditty bug.
The tell-tale sign?  Pure ditty love!

© 2016 Janie Lazo. All rights reserved.


David L. Harrison has challenged us to write poems inspired by the word "ditty" this month. 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, February 26th, and one lucky participant will win a copy of his newest collection for children:

For an additional chance to win, write a poem inspired by "leaves" for David's Word of the Month (W.O.M.) challenge HERE.

DMC: "Wheelbarrow tracks" by Jone Rush MacCulloch

Wheelbarrow tracks
crisscross
the soft, garden mud.

Having rained
three nights ago
the dirt
is like modeling clay.

Straight, simple
lines
obtuse, acute, right angles

father would be
proud
geometry in the soil

Wheelbarrow tracks
parallel lines
in which I compose a ditty.

© 2016 Jone Rush MacCulloch. All rights reserved


David L. Harrison has challenged us to write poems inspired by the word "ditty" this month. 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, February 26th, and one lucky participant will win a copy of his newest collection for children:

For an additional chance to win, write a poem inspired by "leaves" for David's Word of the Month (W.O.M.) challenge HERE.