I am loving the Reader Spotlight series that Michelle is featuring at Today’s Little Ditty. This month introduced us to Jane Wittingham, sometimes known as the Raincity Librarian (also the name of her blog and website). This month, Jane challenged us to write an acrostic all about us:

The challenge is a simple one—use the letters in your name as the starting point to create a little ditty all about you! I love doing this one at the beginning of a new series of workshops because it’s a great icebreaker, allowing kids to share as much about themselves with their peers as they feel comfortable. I’ve also had kids express delight at the idea of writing a poem about themselves—“a poem about me?” 

I have to confess, my first reaction to this challenge was less than enthusiastic. It brought back too many memories of those icebreakers at church camp or youth group where we had to go around the circle and introduce ourselves with our name and an adjective that started with the same letter. In the worst ones, we also had to repeat the names of everyone who came before us. Why did I always seem to be at the end?

Why did my name have to start with the letter “K”? I found it hard to come up with many adjectives that started with “K.” There was always kind (and it might sometimes even be true, but that was not the fun-loving image I wanted to portray as a teenager. I sometimes went for keen, but then many didn’t know what it meant and I came across like a walking dictionary (also sometimes true). At least this time around, I had a dictionary to help with brainstorming!

Since my name is short with just three letters, I decided to make my acrostic a haiku as well. I even came up with two!

Keeper of secrets
And memories spun into
Yarns, tales, and poems

Kindness brings me
Awareness of beauty and
Your inner truth

I can’t wait to learn more about the rest of the members of the Poetry Friday Community. Head over to Today’s Little Ditty to read more introductory acrostic poems and check out the rest of the Poetry Friday posts for this week with Carol at Beyond Literacy Link.

Each Friday, I am excited to take part in Poetry Friday, where writers share their love of all things poetry. Carol hosts the Poetry Friday Roundup today at Beyond Literacy Link. She unveils the Embraceable Summer Travels Across the World, a part of the growing Embraceable Summer Gallery. Hurry over and check out all the poetry morsels offered up today.

A few weeks ago, Heidi at My Juicy Little Universe introduced a new poetic form–the definito. She defines the poem:

the definito is a free verse poem of 8-12 lines (aimed at readers 8-12 years old) that highlights wordplay as it demonstrates the meaning of a less common word, which always ends the poem.

Not only did Heidi share some new definitos, but so did several other poets in her writing group. I’ve enjoyed reading them and wanted to try one for myself. Like most poetry, it looks easier than it is to write, but it is much fun. Here’s my first attempt.

EPHEMERAL

A blink and a wink
pass by in a flash.
Even fits of giggles
seldom last.
Flowers droop
and fade away.
All these things
that refuse to stay
for very long
at all
are called
ephemeral.

Each Friday, I am excited to take part in Poetry Friday, where writers share their love of all things poetry. Sylvia and Janet host the Poetry Friday Roundup today at Poetry for Children. They share a poem from their anthology GREAT Morning! Poems for School Leaders to Read Aloud (Pomelo Books), 2018 and look forward to the IBBY regional conference in October. Hurry over and check out all the poetry morsels offered up today.