Wednesday, April 22, 2026

NPM 2026 - Day 22

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.

To "MadLib" a poem, you take an existing poem and swap out the nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs with your own words, while saving its syntax and punctuation, to create a new poem.

The poem I used was Samurai Song by Robert Pinsky. My reinvention is a poem about running.
Richmond Half Marathon Starting Line, November 2025

Runners Song

When I had no path I made
Confidence my path. When I had
No will my feet decided.

When I had no legs I focused on breath.
When I had no breath I focused on rhythm.
When I had no rhythm I kept moving.

When I had no coach I made
Practice my coach. When I had
No support I embraced discipline.

When I had no partner I made
Silence my partner. When I had no
Race I challenged myself.

When I had no finish I made
My pulse my finish. I have
No medal, my heartbeat is my reward.

When I have no plan memory
Is my plan. When I have
No memory, loss will be my friend.

Avoidance is my habit, running
Is my release. When I had
No answers I chased my dreams.

Poem ©Tricia Stohr-Hunt, 2026. All rights reserved.

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.

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