The Miss Rumphius Effect: NPM 2026

Welcome to my National Poetry Month project for 2026, where I am playing with poetry by generating poems in playful ways. Today's poem was inspired by MadLibs. This particular poem was created using a printable form created by Taylor Mali and titled Mad Lib Slam Poem.

Here's what my completed form looks like.

And here's the poem that resulted. This one follows the typical silly Mad Lib format.

I was born in the year of the stuffed rabbit.

My mother was a coffee mug

and my father a Tootsietoy car collection.

Is it any wonder I grew up to be a

kind of mad cross between Wilbur

and a giraffe.

Take a careful look at me.

I am creative, kind, and impatient.

Is it any wonder that at night I still sometimes have nightmares about

cockroaches on the kitchen floor when I'm walking barefoot?

I hope you come back tomorrow to read the new poem I have to share. To see what others are offering up this month, check out Jama Rattigan's 2026 National Poetry Month Kidlitosphere Events Roundup.

You can check out previous poems in the links below.

April 1 - Paint Chip Poetry - A Villanelle for Adam and Eve

April 2 - MadLib a Poem - Stamp Collectors Dream

April 3 - Roll-a-Poem - The Brewing Storm

April 4 - Metaphor Dice - Time is an Impossible Promise
April 5 - Haikubes - A dream about my childhood

April 6 - The Poetry Kit - On Being an Octopus

April 7 - Poetry Machine - After Dad Died

April 8 - Magnetic Poetry Kit

April 9 - Poem Dice - The Fairy Dance
April 10 - Blackout Poem Generator - Untitled
April 11 - Paint Chip Poetry - In a Parallel Universe