One kind word...
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| April Barrett |
can warm three winter months.
– Japanese proverb
Tuesday, February 4, 2020
Thursday, January 30, 2020
Chiaroscuro
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| Jeremy Brooks |
In 1994, nine months into a blossoming relationship with my future husband, I took my first trip down under to meet two of his
greatest loves—his mother and his home country.
Given the devastating fires in southeastern Australia, I’ve been thinking a lot about that
trip lately. Aussies live in a sunburned country—they are well aware of the dangers and consequences. Bush fires, although savage and crippling, are an
expected, natural occurrence... just not on this order of magnitude.
As part of my welcome package, Peter took me on a tour around the countryside of New South Wales—up the Central Coast, over to the Hunter Valley vineyards, and back down through Yengo National Park to the Blue Mountains. Yengo National Park had endured a major bush fire just six weeks before and it was striking to see such bright green new growth set against scorched, blackened trunks. (My photo doesn't do it justice!) Evidently, eucalyptus are perfectly suited for the harsh Australian climate because they carry buds deep beneath their bark to help them be more fire-resistant and re-sprout—proof that left to its own devices (and without too much human meddling), nature will find a way to regenerate and flourish! I only wish I had as much confidence in the resilience of humankind as I do in the resilience of eucalyptus trees.
A somewhat more surprising recollection from that drive through Yengo National Park was my introduction to the word chiaroscuro. (I have Peter to thank for that, as well.) Typically used in a visual art context, chiaroscuro is an Italian word that describes the interplay of light and shadow when light falls unevenly or from a particular direction.
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| Garry Davies |
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| Yengo National Park, after the 1994 bushfires. |
As part of my welcome package, Peter took me on a tour around the countryside of New South Wales—up the Central Coast, over to the Hunter Valley vineyards, and back down through Yengo National Park to the Blue Mountains. Yengo National Park had endured a major bush fire just six weeks before and it was striking to see such bright green new growth set against scorched, blackened trunks. (My photo doesn't do it justice!) Evidently, eucalyptus are perfectly suited for the harsh Australian climate because they carry buds deep beneath their bark to help them be more fire-resistant and re-sprout—proof that left to its own devices (and without too much human meddling), nature will find a way to regenerate and flourish! I only wish I had as much confidence in the resilience of humankind as I do in the resilience of eucalyptus trees.
A somewhat more surprising recollection from that drive through Yengo National Park was my introduction to the word chiaroscuro. (I have Peter to thank for that, as well.) Typically used in a visual art context, chiaroscuro is an Italian word that describes the interplay of light and shadow when light falls unevenly or from a particular direction.
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| Rembrandt: Christ Healing the Sick |
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| Hernán Piñera |
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| hthrd |
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| Claudio Marinangeli |
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| James Jardine |
More than merely a stunning visual effect, for me, chiaroscuro reflects a Taoist sensibility—you can’t have light without darkness, good without bad, yin without yang. As I considered various words to accompany me on my personal journey this year, I wanted one that would recognize the way things are, but in a way that is quiet, balanced, and mindful. On Tuesday I shared a quote from Og Mandino that expresses this perspective beautifully:
I will love the light for it shows me the way;
yet I will endure the darkness for it shows me the stars.
In the past, my chosen words have been more assertive, more goal-driven, but chiaroscuro is a word that I can look to for hope and inspiration without the pressure to do more than I can to change things that are out of my control. Now more than ever, life is complicated, divisive, difficult, sometimes downright incomprehensible. I'm not suggesting apathy or blind acceptance, but perhaps instead of casting blame, I can be more patient with myself and more open-minded with others. Can't we all? It's become too easy to react to daily life with criticism or combativeness rather than a deeper understanding that things are the way they are for a reason... usually more than one. And maybe if we look closely enough, we will find that, even in the darkest circumstances, there's something there to appreciate—a starting place, a moment of compassion, a poem.
Turning from watching
the moon, my comfortable old
shadow led me home.
– Shiki
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| Chechi Peinado |
Tuesday, January 28, 2020
Two Line Tuesday: Og Mandino
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| "Sunset @ Gandipet" by Vijay Bandari |
I will love the light for it shows me the way;
yet I will endure the darkness for it shows me the stars.
– Og Mandino
from The Greatest Salesman in the World (1968)
Thursday, December 5, 2019
Sweet wishes (and plans) for the new year!
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| "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" Arol Lightfoot |
These last few weeks (months, really) have been a whirlwind for me.
And miles to go before I sleep.– Robert Frost, read the entire poem HERE
And miles to go before I sleep.
It's been a struggle at times, but here I am! I've arrived at the end of year! And it's all the more special because I have so many friends who have been surrounding me with love and gratitude, helping me celebrate the release of The Best of Today's Little Ditty 2017-2018. Thank you for sharing Volume 3 in blog posts and on websites, spreading the word on social media, and purchasing copies for yourself or for poetry-loving friends and family for the holidays!
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| Thanks to Jan Godown Annino for this great photo to brighten my holiday season! |
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| Christmas is coming! The stockings are hung— a ditty collection tucked into each one. |
If you already have a copy and can take a minute or two to leave a review on Amazon, it would help to get the book seen by more poetry fans like yourselves. (For that matter, did you know you can use the same, or similar, review for the other two TLD anthology volumes?)
If you have poems in any of the volumes and an Amazon author page, don't forget to add yourself as an author as well!
I recently received a beautiful gift from Donna JT Smith in the mail. She's given me permission to share it here. I love the way she so thoughtfully expresses her appreciation for these books and for the poets whose work is contained. She pretty much took the words right out of my mouth.
SWEET
Sweet the poems
Bound with string
Sweet the spirit
Fresh as spring
Sweet the poets'
Voices ring
Sweet the songs
Given to sing
Sweet the birds
Sweet the air
Sweet the flowers
fresh and fair
Sweet the sentiment and thought
Sweet the peace these words have brought.
Sweet the sounds
Sweet the pen
Sweet the visiting again
Thanks to writer
Thanks to all
Thanks to those
who hear the call.
© 2019 Donna JT Smith. All rights reserved.
Thanks right backatcha, Donna! Thanks to ALL of you who hear the call to take part in Ditty of the Month Club challenges.
This time of year is when I start thinking about what shape Today's Little Ditty is going to take for the coming year. I'd love to interview a few more of you for 2020 Reader Spotlights. If you ask Linda Mitchell, Jesse Anna Bornemann, Jane Whittingham, Rebecca Herzog, or Kate O'Neil, I think they'll tell you the process is easy, fun, and rewarding to read all the poems in response to your very own ditty challenge. Don't be shy! Complete this brief form to start the ball rolling.
I also plan to share more author/editor Spotlight ON interviews next year, more classroom connections posts, and... who knows what else!
An exciting bit of news for me is that I've been shortlisted for the position of Alachua County Poet Laureate here in North Central Florida. I interviewed with our local arts council earlier this week. The competition is stiff, but just to have been given the opportunity to speak about why poetry is important to me feels like a win all by itself. I'm proud of my local government for initiating this new position and, regardless of the outcome, I hope that it might lead to new poetry-related events and opportunities.
So I guess that's it from me for a while. I look forward to returning in late January. If you get a hankering to write some ditties in the meantime, don't forget that you can access links to all of the TLD spotlight interviews HERE and links to all of the final wrap-up celebrations HERE.
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| Jocelyn Erskine-Kellie |
May your holiday season be festive and bright—
and filled with love, laughter, and poetry!
Thursday, November 28, 2019
November DMC Wrap-Up Celebration
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| Dewolf Family |
With this challenge I have in mind the enormous value of this site as "A poetry playground for the child in all of us." Yes, the child in the adult still likes to play.
— Kate O'Neil
You do know what today is, don't you?
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| Mike Licht |
Nah, I'm not talking about Black Friday. Try again?
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| Steve McFarland |
Why, yes, it IS National Leftovers Day, but that's not what I'm talking about either. Give up?
It's our end-of-month poetry playdate!
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| University of Baltimore Special Collections and Archives |
Now we're talking!
At the beginning of this month, Kate O'Neil challenged us to write a poem based on the sheer delight of words at play: malapropisms, ambiguities, unintended meanings, puns, clichés, etc. Inspiration could be found listening to children, from newspaper headlines, lists of ‘howlers’ on the net, etc.
I'm loving all the different ways this challenge was interpreted! Apparently the Ditty of the Month Club takes wordplay very seriously.
See for yourself—
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| Daniel X. O'Neil |
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| Gabriela B. |
To peruse our fun factory, scroll through the poems below or CLICK HERE to open a new tab.
Many thanks to everyone who contributed to the fun and especially to Kate for inspiring us all with such a lively challenge!
For those of you who haven't yet, there's still time to get your ducks in a row and contribute a ditty... but you better get quackin'!
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| Wendy |
Visit Kate's spotlight interview for instructions and then click on the pink dot with the plus sign to add your poem to the padlet. While there aren't many days left in November, I'll be leaving this padlet open indefinitely, so feel free to add to it at any point in the future.
DMC: "Let's Talk Turkey" by Janie Lazo
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| DaPuglet |
LET'S TALK TURKEY
The thing that I’m most thankful for
On this Thanksgiving Day
As I gobble, gobble yummy food
And then run out to play
Is that I am The Who I am
And while that is still murky
I’m thankful that I wasn’t born
A plump Thanksgiving Turkey
© 2019 Janie Lazo. All rights reserved.
All contributions will be included in a wrap-up celebration tomorrow, Friday, November 29th.
Thursday, November 21, 2019
A Sweet Ending to "Playing with Your Food Poems" Week
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| "Summer" (1573) by Giuseppe Arcimboldo |
I've had food on my mind this week thanks to Rebecca Herzog's invitation to write a poem about a food that you feel is most deserving of its own national day. If there's one thing I've learned reading more than 1500 DMC poems over the last 5+ years, it's that food is always a popular subject!
So what did I do? I dubbed this "playing with your food poems" week at Today's Little Ditty and shared daily food-themed poems from this month's "Words at Play" padlet. Kim Norman's "Pecan't" was featured on Monday. (Enjoy National Pecan Day next year on April 14th.). On Tuesday, David McMullin treated us to "Papa Slime". (Sign me up for National Guacamole Day next year on September 16th!) Tabatha Yeatts' "Rosemarried" was featured on Wednesday. (Did you know National Herb Day is celebrated annually on the first Saturday of May?) And on Thursday, we enjoyed Cindy Breedlove's "Talking Turkey." The national day for turkey-feasting? Everybody knows that! (Time to stock up on pumpkin, squash, and stuffing, folks.)
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| "These are not the gourds you're looking for." |
|
| Purchase your paperback or ebook copies HERE, or contact me if you'd like one signed by me and Miranda (I have a few extra). |
The first poem I'd like to share is Bridget Magee's excellent response to the "Personified Feeling Poems" challenge offered by Jeannine Atkins in February 2017.
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| Lisa Yarost |
Embarrassment squeezes between Julio and me
at the lunch table.
The ketchup packet feels
the pressure,
bursting in such a way
that Julio wears
the flush of my cheeks
for the rest of the day.
– Bridget Magee, © 2017
Why of course there's a National French Fries Day! Mark July 13th on next year's calendar.
Next we have Rebecca Herzog's sweet response to the May 2017 challenge, in which Melissa Manlove asks us to compare writing (or a book) to something else.
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| B.B. |
SLURPEE
Grab a cup
So excited
Top it off
Mind ignited
Great big sip
Tale united
Big brain freeze
Uninvited
Wince in pain
Muse indicted
Shake it off
All doubt blighted
Push on through
ending sighted
One last swig
Scribe delighted
– Rebecca Herzog
As you might have guessed, July 11th is Free Slurpee Day at 7-Eleven! Maybe not an official "national day," but as good a reason as any to celebrate, no?
Finally, when J. Patrick Lewis and Jane Yolen challenged us to write an epitaph poem in February 2018, Robyn Hood Black pulled this clever confection seemingly out of nowhere:
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| owlpacino |
EPITAFFY
Pulled and stretched
in twists and turns -
picky permutation.
A chomp. A chew.
The End. Of You.
(Sticky situation….)
– Robyn Hood Black
Yep. National Taffy Day is May 23rd on the 2020 calendar.
So there you have it. Although I would have liked to share a poem about a food that deserves a national day, apparently all seven of the food poems I've featured this week already have their own special days! Sheesh.
And now I'm hungry. Breakfast, anyone?
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| aulia.m |
Be a good egg and join us, won't you?
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| zhouxuan12345678 |
If not a food poem with words at play, any ol' wordplay poem will do. Read Kate O'Neil's spotlight interview for more details, add your poem to the padlet, and stay tuned for next Friday's wrap-up celebration!
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