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.
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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.
- Tanita Davis
- Mary Lee Hahn
- Sara Lewis Holmes
- Laura Purdie Salas
- Liz Garton Scanlon
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 EveApril 15 - Haikubes - A dream about our world
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!
I do love triolets, but I'm glad you went with the sonnet here! Something about that "softly written" gets me. Thank you!
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