NPM 2025 - Poem 11

Welcome Poetry Friday friends.

For National Poetry Month this year, I am writing poems in uncommon, unusual, or inventive poetic forms. The only rule I have set for myself is that I choose forms I am unfamiliar with. Here are some of the resources I am referencing. 

• 20+ Different (& Wild!) Poetry Forms for Inspiration
• A Strange Poetry
• Refrigerator, Blackout, And Other Radical Poetry Forms
• Experimental Poetry Forms
• Shadow Poetry (See invented forms)
• 20 Fun Poem Types (You've Probably Never Heard Of)

Today I'm sharing a Poetry Fortune Teller.
Have you ever made a cootie catcher? Growing up, I knew this as a fortune teller. If you've never folded one, here is a quick video on how to do it.

Inspired by Cootie Catcher by Leila Chatti, I've created my own poetry fortune teller. For the phrases under the flaps, I mined Linda Mitchell's clunkers lists. I followed the rules from Chatti's work to generate a few poems.  

To create your poem, pick (or have someone else pick!) a color. Write this down on a spare piece of paper. Then spell the color out, opening and closing the cootie catcher for each letter and alternating the direction each time (up and down/side to side). Once you finish spelling out the word, you should have it open to four nouns. Pick one, write it down on your paper, then spell out the word just as you did with the color. You’ll see four nouns again. Pick one, write that noun down on your paper, then open up the flap. Write that phrase down on your paper. You’ve got yourself a mini poem!

I’m not sure how you construct one of these so that every possible combination makes sense. Maybe that's where the real poetry lies. Here are two that seemed to work. 

gray cloud

light

reaching for the sun

i break free

crimson anger

hope

i just need to sit

with a poem

Poems ©Tricia Stohr-Hunt, 2025. All rights reserved.

I hope you come back tomorrow to see what new poetic form I've chosen. You can also read the other poems I've written this month.

• April 1 - Quinzaine
• April 2 - Preposition poem
• April 3 - Lipogram poem
• April 4 - Venn diagram poem
• April 5 - Punnett poem
• April 6 - Bingo card poem
• April 7 - Assembly diagram poem
• April 8 - Brevette
• April 9 - Pleiades
• April 10 - Clarity Pyramid

To see what others are writing this month, check out  Jama Rattigan's 2025 National Poetry Month Kidlitosphere Events Roundup.      

I do hope you'll take some time to check out all the wonderful poetic things being shared and collected today by Irene Latham at Live Your Poem. Happy Poetry Friday friends.   

NPM 2025 - Poem 10

For National Poetry Month this year, I am writing poems in uncommon, unusual, or inventive poetic forms. The only rule I have set for myself is that I choose forms I am unfamiliar with. Here are some of the resources I am referencing. 

• 20+ Different (& Wild!) Poetry Forms for Inspiration
• A Strange Poetry
• Refrigerator, Blackout, And Other Radical Poetry Forms
• Experimental Poetry Forms
• Shadow Poetry (See invented forms)
• 20 Fun Poem Types (You've Probably Never Heard Of)

Today's poem is a Clarity Pyramid.
A clarity pyramid is a poem consisting of two triplets and a single line (7 lines in all). The first triplet contains the title (first word) and synonyms for that word. The first 3 lines are 1, 2, and 3 syllables. The second triplet provides a bit of information about the topic and the lines are 5, 6, and 7 syllables. The final line is 8 syllables, is included in quotations, and provides a definition for the title word. Phew! That's a lot to think about. You can learn more about the form at Shadow Poetry.

BLUE
downcast
depressed

worries fill her mind
darkness smothers the light
hope feels like a distant dream

“drowning in a sea of sorrow”

Poem ©Tricia Stohr-Hunt, 2025. All rights reserved.

I hope you come back tomorrow to see what new poetic form I've chosen. You can also read the other poems I've written this month.

• April 1 - Quinzaine
• April 2 - Preposition poem
• April 3 - Lipogram poem
• April 4 - Venn diagram poem
• April 5 - Punnett poem
• April 6 - Bingo card poem
• April 7 - Assembly diagram poem
• April 8 - Brevette
• April 9 - Pleiades

To see what others are writing this month, check out  Jama Rattigan's 2025 National Poetry Month Kidlitosphere Events Roundup.        

NPM 2025 - Poem 9

For National Poetry Month this year, I am writing poems in uncommon, unusual, or inventive poetic forms. The only rule I have set for myself is that I choose forms I am unfamiliar with. Here are some of the resources I am referencing. 

• 20+ Different (& Wild!) Poetry Forms for Inspiration
• A Strange Poetry
• Refrigerator, Blackout, And Other Radical Poetry Forms
• Experimental Poetry Forms
• Shadow Poetry (See invented forms)
• 20 Fun Poem Types (You've Probably Never Heard Of)

Today's poem is Pleiades.
The pleiades is a seven-line poem with a one-word title.  The first word in each line begins with the same letter as the title. Each line has six syllables. There was no indication of whether this form should rhyme or not, so I chose my own rhyme scheme (ababccd). You can learn more about the form at Shadow Poetry.

Spring
Seedlings break through hard frost
sunshine kisses cold ground, 
soon winter’s chill is lost
soft grasses rise unbound
symphonies of birds
sing praises without words
spring murmurs through the skies

Poem ©Tricia Stohr-Hunt, 2025. All rights reserved.

I hope you come back tomorrow to see what new poetic form I've chosen. You can also read the other poems I've written this month.

• April 1 - Quinzaine
• April 2 - Preposition poem
• April 3 - Lipogram poem
• April 4 - Venn diagram poem
• April 5 - Punnett poem
• April 6 - Bingo card poem
• April 7 - Assembly diagram poem
• April 8 - Brevette

To see what others are writing this month, check out  Jama Rattigan's 2025 National Poetry Month Kidlitosphere Events Roundup.       

NPM 2025 - Poem 8

For National Poetry Month this year, I am writing poems in uncommon, unusual, or inventive poetic forms. The only rule I have set for myself is that I choose forms I am unfamiliar with. Here are some of the resources I am referencing. 

• 20+ Different (& Wild!) Poetry Forms for Inspiration
• A Strange Poetry
• Refrigerator, Blackout, And Other Radical Poetry Forms
• Experimental Poetry Forms
• Shadow Poetry (See invented forms)
• 20 Fun Poem Types (You've Probably Never Heard Of)

Today's poem is Brevette.
A brevette is a three word poem that consists of a subject (noun), verb, and object (noun), in this exact order. The verb shows an ongoing action, which is demonstrated by spacing out the letters in the verb. You can learn more about this form at Shadow Poetry. I've cheated a bit and created a series of linked brevettes to make one longer poem.

moon
r a d i a t e s
light

light

e c l i p s e s

dark

dark

d i m i n i s h e s

faith

faith

k i n d l e s

hope

hope

i n s p i r e s

compassion

compassion

c o n n e c t s

humanity

Poem ©Tricia Stohr-Hunt, 2025. All rights reserved.

I hope you come back tomorrow to see what new poetic form I've chosen. You can also read the other poems I've written this month.

• April 1 - Quinzaine
• April 2 - Preposition poem
• April 3 - Lipogram poem
• April 4 - Venn diagram poem
• April 5 - Punnett poem
• April 6 - Bingo card poem
• April 7 - Assembly diagram poem

To see what others are writing this month, check out  Jama Rattigan's 2025 National Poetry Month Kidlitosphere Events Roundup.      

NPM 2025 - Poem 7

For National Poetry Month this year, I am writing poems in uncommon, unusual, or inventive poetic forms. The only rule I have set for myself is that I choose forms I am unfamiliar with. Here are some of the resources I am referencing. 

• 20+ Different (& Wild!) Poetry Forms for Inspiration
• A Strange Poetry
• Refrigerator, Blackout, And Other Radical Poetry Forms
• Experimental Poetry Forms
• Shadow Poetry (See invented forms)
• 20 Fun Poem Types (You've Probably Never Heard Of)

Today's poem is an  Assembly Diagram poem.
An assembly diagram poem is written in and around the images of assembly instructions. I've totally invented this name, so consider it an illustrated poem with particular images. I was inspired by the poem How Clear the Cut by Anney Bolgiano. The diagram comes from the instructions for the iconic IKEA Billy bookcase. You may have to click this one to enlarge and read.

Poem ©Tricia Stohr-Hunt, 2025. All rights reserved.

I hope you come back tomorrow to see what new poetic form I've chosen. You can also read the other poems I've written this month.

• April 1 - Quinzaine
• April 2 - Preposition poem
• April 3 - Lipogram poem
• April 4 - Venn diagram poem
• April 5 - Punnett poem
• April 6 - Bingo card poem

To see what others are writing this month, check out  Jama Rattigan's 2025 National Poetry Month Kidlitosphere Events Roundup.     

NPM 2025 - Poem 6

For National Poetry Month this year, I am writing poems in uncommon, unusual, or inventive poetic forms. The only rule I have set for myself is that I choose forms I am unfamiliar with. Here are some of the resources I am referencing.

• 20+ Different (& Wild!) Poetry Forms for Inspiration
• A Strange Poetry
• Refrigerator, Blackout, And Other Radical Poetry Forms
• Experimental Poetry Forms
• Shadow Poetry (See invented forms)
• 20 Fun Poem Types (You've Probably Never Heard Of)

Today's poem is a  Bingo Card poem.
A  Bingo card poem is written in the squares of a Bingo board. My poem was modeled on the poem Feti's Border Crossing by Alan Michael Parker. In his description of the poem he says this:

“Bingo card poems highlight the simultaneity of experience, even though only some of the experiences may come true, since there are so many ways to get Bingo, and not every square will be ‘called.’ Here, my protagonist is trying to cross a border and see her kids, and feeling profiled, the racism of the situation in every storyline. Feti speaks, thinks, hears, and imagines—everything all at once, the impossible made possible by the Bingo card form. And everything matters, because it all happens to Feti and so many others every day.”

I started thinking about these ideas as they relate to teaching, that simultaneity of thoughts, feelings, and experiences that teachers have, and decided to try this form. Pick a column, row, or diagonal and see where it goes.

I hope you come back tomorrow to see what new poetic form I've chosen. You can also read the other poems I've written this month.

• April 1 - Quinzaine
• April 2 - Preposition poem
• April 3 - Lipogram poem
• April 4 - Venn diagram poem
• April 5 - Punnett poem

To see what others are writing this month, check out  Jama Rattigan's 2025 National Poetry Month Kidlitosphere Events Roundup.    

NPM 2025 - Poem 5

For National Poetry Month this year, I am writing poems in uncommon, unusual, or inventive poetic forms. The only rule I have set for myself is that I choose forms I am unfamiliar with. Here are some of the resources I am referencing. 

• 20+ Different (& Wild!) Poetry Forms for Inspiration
• A Strange Poetry
• Refrigerator, Blackout, And Other Radical Poetry Forms
• Experimental Poetry Forms
• Shadow Poetry (See invented forms)
• 20 Fun Poem Types (You've Probably Never Heard Of)

Today's poem is a Punnett poem.
A  punnett poem is a 9-line poem about a biological topic based on the ratios in a Punnett Square. The guidelines are:

• 9-lines
• word count per line is 1-2-1-2-4-2-1-2-1
• unrhymed
• the first line (word) of the poem must be a part of, or offspring of, the last line (word)
• center justified

This form was invented by Marc Arnts, who created it for a contest where he was charged with devising a form based on his occupation (biology teacher). 

buds

spring open

in

sunlight’s warmth

new life blooms on

every branch

colors

riot on

trees

Poem ©Tricia Stohr-Hunt, 2025. All rights reserved.

I hope you come back tomorrow to see what new poetic form I've chosen. You can also read the other poems I've written this month.

• April 1 - Quinzaine
• April 2 - Preposition poem
• April 3 - Lipogram poem
• April 4 - Venn diagram poem

To see what others are writing this month, check out  Jama Rattigan's 2025 National Poetry Month Kidlitosphere Events Roundup.