Friday, July 31, 2026

Poetry Sisters Write Pantoums Inspired by Pádraig Ó Tuama

This month's challenge was to write a pantoum inspired by a New Year's post by Pádraig Ó Tuama. In that post, he offered these prompts for the pantoum.

Write eight lines.

Number each one, 1-8, and then arrange them in the shape below.

1  ______

2  ______

3  ______

4  ______


2  ______

5  ______

4  ______

6  ______


5  ______

7  ______

6  ______

8  ______


7  ______

3  ______

8  ______

1  ______

As you arrange them in the shape, feel free to modify the repetition; some new idea may emerge.

    • Where are you? What place? A village? a guest house? A city?
    • What’s a night sound from outside you hear regularly?
    • What’s a night sound from inside you hear regularly?
    • What can you see in the dark?
    • Who is nearby? Neighbours? Owls? Mice? What’s happening for them?
    • What’s time doing?
    • What physical sensations can you feel when you wake at night?
    • What’s one thing that’s on your mind when you wake?

Here's the poem I came up with. I wrote about summer nights in the house I grew up in.

The Edge of Sleep

On hot nights, I lie on the screened porch,
serenaded by a chorus of crickets,
while the kitchen clock keeps ticking
and a sliver of moon rests above the roof.

Serenaded by a chorus of crickets,
upstairs, my father snores
as a sliver of moon rests above the roof
and the shortest night of summer slips away.

Upstairs, my father snores
while I fear I'll slip from the dream cliff;
the shortest night of summer slips away.
Will I ever sleep again?

I fear I'll slip from the dream cliff
as the kitchen clock keeps ticking.
Will I ever sleep again
on hot nights, on the screened porch?

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

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

Would you like to try the next challenge? We will be writing in the form of the haiku sonnet. You’ve got a month to craft your creation(s), then share your offering with the rest of us on August 28th in a post and/or on social media with the tag #PoetryPals. We look forward to reading your poems! 

Happy Poetry Friday, friends!
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Thursday, June 25, 2026

Poetry Friday is Here!

Hello poetry friends! I am happy to host the round-up on this last Friday of the month and on a day when my poetry sisters and I have written to another challenge. This month, we wrote "In The Style Of..." the triptych "August" by Louise Ireland, but with the general theme of diving into summer. 

Here's my poem.

On the Edge of Summer, a Triptych

I.

The lilacs
have already finished,

but the maples
keep uncurling
into green,

as if they know

summer
arrives
slowly.

II.

The porch holds
an empty chair.

The hammock remembers
the shape of a body
not yet there.

III.

Bees trust
what tomato
blossoms promise.

I am learning
to wait.

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

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

Would you like to try the next challenge? We're writing in the form of the pantoum. Pádraig Ó Tuama-offers pantoum challenges on his Substack. We will be writing to his January prompt. You’ve got a month to craft your creation(s), then share your offering with the rest of us on July 31st in a post and/or on social media with the tag #PoetryPals. We look forward to reading your poems! 

I'm rounding up old-school style this month. Please join the party by leaving your link in the comments. Happy poetry Friday, friends!

---------------

  • Michelle Kogan played along with our triptych prompt and is sharing a poem entitled Thoughts on the World and Beyond. She also shares a lovely watercolor print she created.

  • Karen Edmisten is sharing the poem "A Dangerous Adventure" by James Tate. She's also sharing a serendipitous find that is pure Poetry Friday magic.

  • Patricia Franz is sharing a review of the book In the World of Whales (Neal Porter Books, 2025) by Michelle Cusolito and illustrated by Jessica Lanan. It looks amazing!

  • Alan Wright shares a poem from the other side of the world, writing about winter weather down under in a piece entitled Umbrellas Are Pluviophiles. I learned a new word today and yes, I am one!

  • Linda Mitchell of Another Word Edgewise shares a haibun and tanka written in response to a piece of art in her poem Girl at Night by Howard Hodgkin. Hodgkin is new to me, and now I need to know more.

  • Marcie Flinchum Atkins is back after some time away and is sharing news about her spring book events, as well as tales of musicals, a trip, and a lovely little haiku.

  • Catherine Flynn of Reading to the Core is catching up and is sharing her response to the Inklings June prompt to "use a recent comment on one of your posts as a line in a poem." Her poem is entitled Hope Will Win.

  • Irene Latham of Live Your Poem is contemplating waiting. She shares her writing (thinking?) process and a poem entitled Everything I Need to Know About Waiting I Learned in the Garden.

  • Linda Baie of Teacher Dance was treated to some much-needed rain and has written a poem about it entitled Gifting.

  • Mandy Robek is reconnecting to the poem "Now" by Reggie Routman and reflecting on how she hopes to hang on to the message beyond summer. 

  • Margaret Simon of Reflections on the Teche shares a bit about her travels to the Pacific Northwest and the poetry written and found there. 

  • Susan Thomsen of Chicken Spaghetti shares a coffee poem she wrote titled "Sweetie."

  • Jone MacCulloch is sharing a review of the new poetry book Farmku: Haiku Poems from the Heart of the Land.

  • Ruth at There is no such thing as a God-forsaken town is sharing the joys and sorrows of Haiti with some lovely Haitian poems.

  • Jan Godown Annino of Bookseedstudio teaches us a bit about the Florida Giant Red Hermit Crab and crab behavior while sharing her original poem "Hermits." 

  • Mona Voelkel offers up a writing prompt and a poem about the solstice.

  • Diane Davis played along with our triptych prompt and shares her frustrations over US politics in her poem "45/47."

  • Tabatha Yeatts of The Opposite of Indifference shares the poem that was the Rattle Poetry 2025 Prize Winner. That poem is "An Ordinary Childhood" by Morri Creech. We also get a bonus poem that Tabatha found after hearing about it in a Morri Creech interview. Good stuff.

  • Carol Varsolona of Beyond LiteracyLink played along with our triptych prompt and wrote a poem full of memories entitled Summer Love Connections.

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Friday, May 29, 2026

Poetry Potluck With My Poetry Sisters

This month, we are serving up a poetry potluck, an idea shared by Tanita, since we didn't have a plan for May. Sara then chimed in and suggested we each pick a potluck dish or food item to write about. Once this was decided, there was only one thing I wanted to write about, because it is the first thing that comes to mind when I hear the word potluck.

My mom loved a good potluck. The dish she made nearly every week for years was due to her participation in what she called the "funeral brigade" at our church. I don't recall the official name of the group, but she and other women in the parish cooked an enormous amount of food, set tables, and received families in mourning after a funeral. Mom's funeral potatoes are my contribution to this month's challenge. I'm also including an old photo of us in the kitchen, clearly singing to my brother on his birthday. This was the room where all the good stuff happened.


Funeral Potatoes

Every Tuesday morning
my mother assembled comfort
in the form of a casserole—

frozen hash browns,
sour cream,
a can of soup,
cheddar cheese,
corn flake topping.

The recipe never changed.

She carried the dish
into the church kitchen
where women spoke in lowered voices
and folded sorrow into paper napkins.

Someone's husband.
Someone's sister.
Someone's child.

The potatoes baked
while sympathy rose and settled
like steam on the windows.

I did not understand then
how much grief weighs.

Not the coffin,
not the flowers,
not the clothes of black.

A casserole dish
warm against your palms.

A recipe memorized
because mourning is always arriving
at someone else's door.

My mother lifted that weight
week after week.

She fed people
who could not swallow their sadness,
who stood in the fellowship hall
holding paper plates
and the impossible fact
of an empty chair.

Now when I smell butter
browning at the edges,
I think of all the grief
she carried home unnoticed—

the names she never spoke,
the tears she never claimed as hers,

and how love sometimes looks like
shredded potatoes and cheese,

heavy enough
to feed a crowd,
light enough
to offer with both hands.

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

You can read the poems my Poetry Sisters have written at the links below. 
Would you like to try the next challenge? We're writing "In The Style Of..." the triptych "August" by Louise Ireland but with the general theme of diving into summer. You’ve got a month to craft your creation(s), then share your offering with the rest of us on June 26th in a post and/or on social media with the tag #PoetryPals. We look forward to reading your poems! 

I hope you'll take some time to check out all the wonderful poetic things being shared and collected today by Mary Lee Hahn at A(nother) Year of Reading. Happy Poetry Friday all!  
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Thursday, April 30, 2026

Poetry Friday - Favorite Poems from NPM 2026

It's May 1st (or it will be when you read this), and I'll admit I'm a little bit sad that April is over. I thoroughly enjoyed my National Poetry Month project this year. I chose 10 different approaches to generating poetry prompts and repeated each one three times over the course of the month. I used a few commercial kits, including Paint Chip Poetry, Metaphor Dice, Haikubes, The Poetry Kit, and Magnetic Poetry Kit: Revolution Poet. I tried three online poetry generators, including Creative Communication's Poetry Machine, Poem Dice from Language is a Virus, and fouuund.it's Online Blackout Poem Generator. I also used a Roll-a-Poem form and a poetic take on MadLibs to serve as poem prompts. 

Looking back on the month, I thought I would share three poems I am particularly fond of.

Poem Dice - April 29
Wounds of War

We learned of war as if a fairy tale
with banners bright that promised peace at dawn
we stood in ranks, convinced we would prevail
then watched our shining certainty withdrawn

The order came, and all the guns stood ready
as bombs rained down to smite the roofs below
the ground shook hard, the air grew sharp and steady
and stinging smoke began its work of woe

What ruler speaks, then makes the children cower?
What glory hides inside a shattered door?
Grief fills the streets like poisoned water sour
and no one knows what any killing’s for

So war, once dressed in honor, drops its art
and leaves its oldest wound, the human heart

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

Metaphor Dice - April 14

My Heart is a Glorified Drum

My heart is a glorified drum
it answers the silence with sound
a pulse that refuses to numb
a rhythm that circles around

It answers the silence with sound
through bone it keeps time in the dark
a rhythm that circles around
each echo a bright, urgent spark

Through bone it keeps time in the dark
it calls me to follow its hum
each echo a bright, urgent spark
my heart is a glorified drum

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

Roll-a-Poem - April 13

Swamp Dirge
The marsh lies still—hush hush—a heavy green
a ripple parts where silent shadows glide
a sudden snap snap breaks what once had been
and something small is dragged beneath the tide

A muffled splash—then nothing left to hear
no cry remains, just bubbles slipping through
the reeds lean in—swish swish—as if to peer
then close again, as though they never knew

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

You can find a list of all the poems I wrote last month at NPM 2026 - Playing With Poetry.

I hope you'll take some time to check out all the wonderful poetic things being shared and collected today by Rose Capelli at Imagine the Possibilities. Happy poetry Friday! 

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NPM 2026 - Day 30

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 an online blackout poem generator. Each day, the text selection changes. The text today is "Ben Holt's Good Name" by Charlotte Grace O'Brien.

There were so many good words in this one. Today's poem is brief and simple. 
what a thing
to be 
beautiful
like blossoming trees
waving joyfully
to and fro

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

Well, that's a wrap on another National Poetry Month project. I hope you've enjoyed exploring some fun ways to generate poems this month. I can honestly say that this has been one of the best projects I have ever done, and that's saying something, as I have 18 years of projects under my belt. I have written poems on topics I never would have imagined. 

You can find all the poems written this month on the page NPM 2026 - Playing With Poetry. Thanks so much for joining me on this journey. Until next time ...

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 29, 2026

NPM 2026 - Day 29

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. The site has a series of creative writing exercises they suggest for the six words. One is to write a haiku! I tried, and it's nearly impossible. To make all the words fit, you really need a longer form. I've written several sonnets this month, and it seems to be the most accommodating of seemingly unrelated words.

Wounds of War

We learned of war as if a fairy tale
with banners bright that promised peace at dawn
we stood in ranks, convinced we would prevail
then watched our shining certainty withdrawn

The order came, and all the guns stood ready
as bombs rained down to smite the roofs below
the ground shook hard, the air grew sharp and steady
and stinging smoke began its work of woe

What ruler speaks, then makes the children cower?
What glory hides inside a shattered door?
Grief fills the streets like poisoned water sour
and no one knows what any killing’s for

So war, once dressed in honor, drops its art
and leaves its oldest wound, the human 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 - A Villanelle for Adam and Eve
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Tuesday, April 28, 2026

NPM 2026 - Day 28

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 my computer and then selected interesting words until I arranged them into a poem. Here's what I came up with.


let us rise together
with a vision
for our future

one world
united

people in solidarity
peacefully standing 
against tyranny & war
a force for
love
justice
and what is right

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 - A Villanelle for Adam and Eve
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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 started by thinking of animal idioms, but they all seemed too obvious. I so wanted to write a poem about a cheeky little monkey. After that, 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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