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.