Sunday Scribblings #224: Do More on Doolittle Day!

I do love Eliza Doolittle, so it was a delight to discover (though I should have kinda known already) that May 20th is Liza Doolittle Day. She says so herself in the song ‘Just You Wait’ when she sings “Next week on the 20th of May, / I proclaim Liza Doolittle Day”

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Notepad and a pen over it with a cup of coffee next to it. words read Sunday Scribblings, and this is for Sunday Scribblings #224: Do More With the Doolittle Dialectic

🎭 Poetic Sundays: Poetic Fun for Doolittle Day

Have you seen My Fair Lady? It was a favorite of my father-in-law — who would’ve turned 87 today — and it’s one of mine, too. In honor of him and the ever-charming Eliza Doolittle, today’s poetic spotlight celebrates voice, transformation, and a dash of flair.

💡 Core Idea

Channel Eliza Doolittle — the cheeky flower seller and the polished lady she becomes. This transformation offers rich poetic possibilities, including:

A cleave poem, splitting the voices line by line.
- The cleave is a poem that is written such that it is two separate poems when read on each side of the page, and a third poem when the lines of those two poems are read across the page.
A dialogue or Q&A between her two selves
A mirror poem, where tone and language flip across two stanzas, with a twist! Maybe we can call it the …

Doolittle Dialectic!

Structure: Two quatrains followed by a final couplet (4–4–2)
Rhyme Scheme: aabb ccdd ee
Theme: Transformation in speech or identity — a shift from informal to formal tone, with a final synthesis of both.
Tone: Humorous, reflective, or theatrical — depending on the speaker(s)

Like Eliza’s journey, many of us code-switch — between languages, tones, or even text slang — layering our speech with personality and nuance! So you can think of this poem like below:

Stanza 1 begins in a relaxed, or playful dialect (think: text slang or just everyday casual speak; or pick any other speech-pattern you want to – maybe Shakespearean!)
Stanza 2 shifts to a more formal version (maybe academic or contemporary poetic tones)
The final couplet blends both voices into one — confident, evolved, and entirely your own.

Try it with:

Text slang vs. academic English
Casual voice vs. formal tone
Inner child vs. adult perspective
Everyday language vs. poetic diction

You could add more mirror vibes to the poem by:

Use matching meter in both 4-line stanzas
Echo key phrases or metaphors in both halves (e.g., “lost” → “seeking clarity”)
Let the final couplet play with both vocabularies in one line each

My Attempt

Tbh, my kiddos (at 22 and 19, not little kids anymore) don’t really text with me like this, though they might occasionally let something slip through in their texts! So this poem below might just make them cringe and roll their eyes, but then again!

Text Me When U Home
nah i’m good, jus hangin out
we chillin, nothin 2 stress about
don’t trip, i’ll bounce b4 it’s late
promise i’ll text — don’t overstate

Please check in if you change your plan.
I worry more than you think I can.
I trust you — truly — please don’t doubt,
But your safety’s what I care about.

fine, i’ll ping u soon — luv ya, k?
I’ll sleep better now. Go seize the day.

~ Vidya Tiru @ LadyInReadWrites

Recently

At Home and On My Blog

Been a quiet week overall – except for the constant sound of the AC running for the weather has been summer-y (kind of). But here are the posts that made their way through this past week:

Upcoming

On My Blog & Homefront

I hope to get a couple of posts out on my blog, while on the homefront it is quiet for me.

Celebrations This Week For Us

Literary Celebrations (close-to-it also!)

Literary birthdays this week of May include: Jodi Picoult, Nora Ephron, Ruskin Bond, & Girish Karnad on May 19th; Mary Pope Osborne, Michèle Roberts, Sigrid Undset, and Walter Isaacson on the 20th; Harold Robbins and Maria Semple on May 21st; Arthur Conan Doyle on the 22nd; Margaret Wise Brown and Mitch Albom on the 23rd; William Trevor on the 24th; Jamaica Kincaid, Octavia Spencer, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Raymond Carver, and Robert Ludlum on the 25th
May 25th is Towel Day (Hitchhiker’s Guide!)

Foodie Celebrations

It is National Devil’s Food Cake Day on the 19th of May
followed by National Pick Strawberries Day on May 20th
While International Tea Day, National Strawberries and Cream Day, and World Whisky Day are all observed on the 21st of May
Next up come World Paloma Day and National Vanilla Pudding Day on May 22
And then on May 23rd, it is National Taffy Day
May 24th is National Asparagus Day
While the 25th is National Brown-Bag It Day and National Wine Day.

Other Celebrations

May 19th is May Ray Day and Plant Something Day (so maybe I will plant something, if it gets cooler than the weather forecast predicts)
Then the 20th of May is International Red Sneakers Day, World Metrology Day, and World Bee Day
May 21st is World Day for Cultural Diversity and Talk Like Yoda Day
The 22nd is International Day for Biological Diversity, and World Goth Day. It is also Buy A Musical Instrument Day
National Lucky Penny Day and World Turtle Day are on the 23rd
It is Brother’s Day on the 24th of May as well as National Scavenger Hunt Day, so plan a scavenger hunt with your brother, maybe? Or plan one for your them?
May 25th has very many observations, including International Plastic Free Day, Geek Pride Day, National Tap Dance Day, and National Sing Out Day!

Wrapped Up: My Sunday Scribblings

So dear reader, you have reached the end of this Sunday Scribblings! As always, I welcome your thoughts, comments, and suggestions about this post. And do let me know if you plan to celebrate any of these mentioned celebrations this coming week/month?

Linking this to the Sunday Post over at the Caffeinated Reviewer and the Sunday Salon

Lady In Read Writes

A Blog(ful) Of Niches