NPM 2026 - Day 9

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 Poem Dice.

This site from Language is a Virus provides a random set of six words to use as fodder for a poem. The image above shows the 6 words I rolled. Here's the poem I wrote.

The Fairy Dance

In woods gone softly dark, where fireflies bring the light,
the fairies ditch their shoes and whirl in sheer delight.

They try to look so serious, with thimble-hats just so,
but burst apart in giggles when the toadstools start to glow.

Behind a curling fern, they dare each friend to peek,
then burst into laughter that echoes down the creek.

They murmur dreamy prayers to snails in silver trails,
then swing from threads of spider silk and sail on petal sails.

At dawn, the pale gold light brings hush to every glade,
they bow, then drift to sleep beneath the leaves they made.

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.

April 1 - Paint Chip Poetry Villanelle

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

NPM 2026 - Day 8

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 the Magnetic Poetry Kit: Revolution Poet.

Magnetic poetry involves creating poems by arranging word magnets on a magnetic surface. The Revolution Poet kit contains more than 200 themed magnetic tiles.

I laid out all the tiles on a board and then selected interesting words until I arranged them into a poem on the back of my butcher tray palette. Here's what I came up with.

shed no tears 

today

dance in the streets

shake free of

every hateful voice

love is not

the enemy

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

If you want to try this out, there are several online versions to experiment with.

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 Villanelle

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 

NPM 2026 - Day 7

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 Creative Communication's Poetry Machine.

The Poetry Machine contains various poetic forms and prompts for users to try. I decided to try out the Phone Number Poem.

Here are the directions.

• Write your phone number
• Line 1: Line has the number of syllables as the first number
• Line 2: Line has the number of syllables as the second number
• Line 3: Line has the number of syllables as the third number
• Line 4: Line has the number of syllables as the fourth number
• Line 5: Line has the number of syllables as the fifth number
• Line 6: Line has the number of syllables as the sixth number
• Line 7: Line has the number of syllables as the seventh number

I decided to use the phone number I grew up with, from way back in the day when my friends and I memorized everyone's phone number. I struggled with how to use a line with no syllables, so I'm leaving it to you to decide on your favorite curse word to put in place of the symbols. I did cheat in the second line, but I think it was worth it. 

After Dad Died

(293-1408)

At last

the house leans in to hear your name again

dim rooms wait

still

walls hold echoes

$#@!%

home is not a house, but a heart. 

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.

April 1 - Paint Chip Poetry Villanelle

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

NPM 2026 - Day 6

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 The Poetry Kit by Joseph Coelho.

This poetry activity set contains: 500 word tiles, 1 letter/MORERAPS spinner (MORERAPS = Metaphor, Onomatopoeia, Rhyme, Emotion, Repetition, Alliteration, Personification, Simile), 12 cards with 24 activities, and 1 rules and inspiration booklet for poetry play.

I tried the activity Spin to Begin. To play, you spin the spinner and write down the letter it lands on. As you spin 8 times you write the letters vertically down the page. Once this is done, you select a word card and write a poem using the spun letters to begin each line.

The letters spun were: r,c,d,y,w,h,p,s

The word card drawn at random was: octopus

Here's my poem.

On Being an Octopus

Roving beneath reefs, it knows the dark

curled tentacles reach into narrow spaces

drifting, it becomes a passing shadow

yielding its body to different shapes

watching from stillness, it waits

hiding where coral meets sand

pulsing once, then again without urgency

silently, it slips away 

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.

April 1 - Paint Chip Poetry Villanelle

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

NPM 2026 - Day 5

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 Haikubes.

Haikubes is a set of 63 word cubes. Two red cubes have phrases that are used to set the theme of the haiku. Blank faces on the cubes are “free” and can be used as any word. To play you roll all 63 dice, select word cubes, and arrange them to form a haiku appropriate to the theme.

Here are the cubes I rolled and arranged into a haiku.

The theme of my roll was "A dream about my childhood."

Here's my poem.

thunder sang to me

in melodic wild whispers

I ran like the wind

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.

April 1 - Paint Chip Poetry Villanelle

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

NPM 2026 - Day 4

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 Metaphor dice.

Metaphor dice contain red, white, and blue dice. Red are filled with CONCEPTS, usually abstract nouns or big ideas. Blue are filled with OBJECTS, or smaller nouns or humbler things. White are filled with ADJECTIVES or short descriptive phrases. To play, you roll the dice, make a metaphor, and write a poem inspired by it.

Here are the dice I selected. I used the metaphor as a title and wrote a cinquain.

Time is an Impossible Promise

clocks lie

seconds fall loose

we hold what cannot hold

future flickers beyond our reach

untold

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.

April 1 - Paint Chip Poetry Villanelle

April 2 - MadLib a Poem - Stamp Collectors Dream

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

NPM 2026 - Day 3

Welcome Poetry Friday friends.

For National Poetry Month this year, I am writing poems generated in some playful manner. I am using metaphor dice, haikubes, Paint Chip Poetry, Mad Libs, words cut from newspapers and magazines, magnetic poetry, an online poem generator, roll-a-poem, and more.

You can read my first two poems at the links below.

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

April 2 - MadLib a Poem - Stamp Collecting Dream

Today's poem was generated using a Roll-a-Poem grid created by MissAllenApple. 

Rolling a die directed me to write a poem about the weather that was mysterious, used rhyming couplets, and ended with a question. Here's what I came up with.

Dramatic Cloudy Sky — StockCake

The Brewing Storm

The wind disturbs the silence of the trees,

and whispers names it carries on the breeze.

A low, uncertain thunder haunts the sky,

as if some secret stirs but won’t reply.

The clouds like tattered sails in drifting sway,

hang torn and trembling in the ashen gray.

The air grows still, as if it strains to hear

a voice that lingers just beyond the ear.

Now in this hush before the rain is cast—

what sign foretells how long the storm will last?

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.

Please take some time to check out all the wonderful poetic things being shared and collected today by Matt Forrest Esenwine at Radio, Rhythm, & Rhyme. Happy poetry Friday!