Friday, April 17, 2026

NPM 2026 - Day 17

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 the poems I've written so far at the links below.

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 Five W Poem.

Here are the directions.
  • Title: Who ___________________
  • Line 1: What ___________________
  • Line 2: Where ___________________
  • Line 3: When ___________________
  • Line 4: Why ___________________
  • Line 5: How ___________________
I wrote this poem for Laura and all the other good folks across the US who are speaking up for those who cannot and are standing up for what is right.
Protesters
A chorus of raised hands and weathered voices, chants echoing through a common breath
along the avenues where sirens bloom and cardboard prayers tilt toward the sky
at the hour when daylight fractures and the city holds its pulse between heartbeats
because silence has teeth, and justice refuses to sleep beneath it
by marching, step by step, until even the pavement listens and remembers

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 Heidi Mordhorst at my juicy little universe. Happy poetry Friday!

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Thursday, April 16, 2026

NPM 2026 - Day 16

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 Action Poems. To play, you choose five red word cards, which are verbs, and write a poem that includes all of the verbs. 

My randomly selected words are pictured below.
I was really stumped thinking about how these verbs could be connected. Ultimately, I landed on actions at the playground. Here's the poem I wrote. 

Playground Sonnet

At recess, where the bright noon sun has crowned
the children race across the open ground
they whisper secrets no one else may hear
then burst to laughter ringing sharp and clear

Small hands will squeeze the rails and climb up high
while daring feet attempt to touch the sky
a careless step—then down they rush in play
and joy erupts though knees are caked with clay

They splash through puddles left from yesterday
and draw wild chalk worlds that will fade away
a scuffed red ball will bounce from hand to hand
a rhythm none but they can understand

The bell will call—but still their bodies run
unwilling yet to leave behind the fun

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.
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Wednesday, April 15, 2026

NPM 2026 - Day 15

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 dream about our world."
Here's my poem.

in shady places
light slips down through dancing leaves
god is wind, not war

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.
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Tuesday, April 14, 2026

NPM 2026 - Day 14

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 pantoum.

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.

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.
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Monday, April 13, 2026

NPM 2026 - Day 13

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 animals that was sad, had an ABAB rhyme scheme, and used onomatopoeia. Here's what I came up with.
Image from Wikimedia Commons

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.

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.
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Sunday, April 12, 2026

NPM 2026 - Day 12

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. This particular poem was created using a printable form created by Taylor Mali and titled Mad Lib Slam Poem.

Here's what my completed form looks like.
And here's the poem that resulted. This one follows the typical silly Mad Lib format.

I was born in the year of the stuffed rabbit.
My mother was a coffee mug
and my father a Tootsietoy car collection.
Is it any wonder I grew up to be a
kind of mad cross between Wilbur
and a giraffe.
Take a careful look at me. 
I am creative, kind, and impatient.
Is it any wonder that at night I still sometimes have nightmares about
cockroaches on the kitchen floor when I'm walking barefoot?

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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Saturday, April 11, 2026

NPM 2026 - Day 11

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 decided to use the prompt as the title and the theme. I chose fog, in the dark, and ruby slippers as paint chips to use as words/phrases in the poem. Of course, ruby slippers made me think of Dorothy and Oz. That seemed a perfect parallel universe to write about. For this one I chose the triolet.

In a Parallel Universe

The fog rolled in the night you went away
in the dark, I followed where you flew
your ruby slippers marked a hidden way
The fog rolled in the night you went away
I chased their glow, but dawn turned them to gray
and every road I chose unmade what’s true
The fog rolled in the night you went away
in the dark, I followed where you flew

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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