Monday, April 27, 2026

NPM 2026 - Day 27

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 Emotional Animal Poem. 

Here are the directions.
  • Title: ______________ (Name an emotion)
  • Line 1: Is a/an ______ __________ (Adjective | Animal Name)
  • Line 2: ______________ (Write an action filled phrase describing how the animal moves)
  • Line 3: ______________ (Tell us where the animal lives)
  • Line 4: ______________ (Explain why the animal acts the way it does)
I tried a few different emotions, chosen from this feelings word list. I finally settled on nervous.
Nervous
is a trembling butterfly
quivering, its wings unsure of where to rest
in the hush between blossoms and drifting air
because even beauty feels fragile when the world is always moving

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 - A Villanelle for Adam and Eve
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Sunday, April 26, 2026

NPM 2026 - Day 26

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 Fun With Rhymes. To play, you choose a random rhyming domino, write down the two words, and list rhyming words underneath them. Then you write a poem using the words as end words.  My randomly selected domino had the words night and dog. Here is the list of words I generated.
This was harder than I thought it would be. I decided to write several different rhyming couplets, and then rearranged them until I had a short poem that worked. 

Night Walk

The sky folds in, a hush of falling night
a lone bark echoes somewhere from a dog

No moon to guide, its face withdrawn from sight
soft footsteps close beside me through the fog

The path is felt, not seen, but worn just right
it leads us slowly through the shadowed bog

Small trees lean in, their branches drawn in tight
the forest stills to hear a lonesome frog

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 - A Villanelle for Adam and Eve
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Saturday, April 25, 2026

NPM 2026 - Day 25

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 cubes, 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 desire for my romantic life." YUCK! I'm not a fan of love poetry, but I do what the dice tell me.
Here's my poem.

fire shines in your eyes
all promises and thunder
please keep dancing

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 - A Villanelle for Adam and Eve
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Friday, April 24, 2026

NPM 2026 - Day 24

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.

In my last metaphor poem post, Tanita commented, "Your dice are ENCHANTED. What a great roll!!!" And Liz commented, "I'm with Tanita -- that is the luckiest and most beautiful roll. Wow." Here's the thing, when you use metaphor dice, you roll ALL of them. So I get 4 in each color and I choose which three I want to use. So, probably not so lucky, but still enchanting.
Here's an image of all the dice I rolled.
And here are the dice I selected for my poem.
I wrote two poems. One about life, and the other about baseball.

The Future is an Impossible Curve-Ball
We draft careful plans,
inked in confident straight lines—
life tilts at the wrist.
What we aimed for slips sideways;
we laugh, or break, or begin.

The Future is an Impossible Curve-Ball
It leaves the pitcher
with a promise of straight flight—
then breaks its own rules.
I swing where it should have been,
and learn from the empty air.

Poems ©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 - A Villanelle for Adam and Eve
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Poetry Sisters Write Ekphrastic Poems

This month's challenge was to write a poem to a photograph. Simple enough, right? Usually, we share images and select from a common offering, but not this time. This means selecting an image was more difficult than writing a poem. I went through the camera roll on my phone and chose a photo I took of a painting by Jacob Lawrence. It is from the War Series and is titled War Series: Casualty - The Secretary of War Regrets. 

I had a hard time selecting an image for this challenge. The world around us is falling apart, and it's hard to make sense of it all. The war in Iran has me deeply concerned. I'm grateful to our troops serving there, but am heartbroken for the families who have lost loved ones. When I saw this image, I knew it would be my choice.

You know that I love the triolet. There's something about the repeated lines that makes such an impact. I chose this form and used the artwork's title as part of a repeating line in my poem. I love the poem, but it's dark and depressing, so I decided to have another go and wrote a sonnet. That's the poem I'm sharing today.

Casualties of War

Behind the patterned wall of vines and dark,
a figure folds, uncentered, almost gone;
the room burns red, a quiet, inward mark,
while something held has shifted, come undone.

A table keeps its small, unguarded frame,
a portrait set where hands once paused in care;
no voice intrudes to speak the absent name,
only the weight of what is missing there.

Outside, the world arranges lines and claims,
maps drawn in distance, certain in their tone;
yet here, no borders hold, no order tames
the bend of grief that will not stand alone.

So softly written, what is sent, what stays—
a nation speaks, and turns its eyes away.

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

You can read the poems my Poetry Sisters have written at the links below. 

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.

Today's poem can be found at NPM 2026 - Day 24.

You can read the other poems I've written this month at the links below.

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

I 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! 

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Thursday, April 23, 2026

NPM 2026 - Day 23

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 generated using a Roll-a-Poem grid created by MissAllenApple. 

Rolling a die directed me to write a poem about imagination with a surprising tone, written in free verse, and using at least one simile. Here's what I came up with.

My Imagination
Imagination is something I reach for
when the day feels too small.

On my walk, the street shifts,
like a stage resetting between scenes,
and I’m no longer just passing through.

I imagine the houses listening,
the trees keeping track of every season I’ve missed.

Then something unexpected—
a new idea slips in,
not loud, not dramatic,
but certain as a door I didn’t see before
standing open.

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 - A Villanelle for Adam and Eve
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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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Tuesday, April 21, 2026

NPM 2026 - Day 21

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 Paint Chip Poetry.

The directions say to pull a dozen paint chips and flip over a prompt card. Here's what I ended up with.
I chose the words night, pine, and blizzard to use in a poem focused on sound. This one is untitled. Here's what I wrote.

As humans sleep the forest wakes at night
while pine trees bend beneath the gathering white

As snow swirls sideways through the brittle air
the blizzard hums a low, unending prayer

An owl sits and watches from on high
and tilts its head to catch what stirs nearby

Soft footfalls press through drifts, then disappear
and all the woods lean close as if to hear

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 - A Villanelle for Adam and Eve
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