Welcome to Poetry Friday! I'm thrilled you are here. I love hosting on the last Friday of the month, when I can highlight the challenge my poetry sisters and I have taken up. Our prompt for September comes from Colby Sharp in THE CREATIVITY PROJECT (p.257): "It was all my fault." Our task was to write a poem that used this idea or these words or anything that this sentence made us think of.
I began to think in earnest about this poem a few days after my very tall and hungry hound stole and ate an entire quiche! Here he is immediately following the incident.
I decided I needed to write a poem from a naughty dog's perspective. I wasn't sure where to start, but realizing how much I love Wallace Stevens, I figured I couldn't go wrong using the poem Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird as a mentor poem. Here's what I came up with.
Thirteen Confessions of a Naughty Dog
(With Inner Monologue)
I
Among twenty mismatched shoes,
The only missing thing
Was a smelly old sneaker.
(This proves nothing.)
II
I was of two minds,
To take the sandwich
Or become the kind of dog
Who leaves a sandwich.
III
The remote disappeared beneath the couch.
I was also beneath the couch.
(These facts are not necessarily related.)
IV
A shoe and a dog
Are two things.
A shoe inside a dog’s mouth
Is still, (technically), a shoe.
V
I do not know which I prefer—
The couch when you are home
Or that glorious space
The cushion calling
Just after you leave.
(One offers companionship,
The other a warm spot.)
VI
Crumbs covered the kitchen floor.
On the counter
An empty plate.
I was nearby.
It was all my fault.
(By which I mean,
I should have been watching
More carefully.)
VII
O people of the house,
Why do you always look to me?
Do you not see the cat
Sitting there
Without remorse?
VIII
I know sit and stay
And leave it.
But I know, too,
That your quiche is involved
In what I know.
IX
When the sock disappeared,
It entered
One of many mysteries.
(You have two feet.
There are other socks.)
X
At the sound of the refrigerator
Opening in the night,
Even the deepest sleeper
Would lift an ear.
(This is instinct, not guilt.)
XI
You walked through the front door
Carrying groceries.
Suddenly, fear pierced me,
For I remembered
The throw pillow had somehow
Opened itself.
XII
The trash can is empty.
The dog must have been hungry.
(I believe the trash can
was too full.)
XIII
It was quiet all afternoon.
It was raining
And it was going to rain.
I slept where I was forbidden,
My head upon your pillow.
(When you came home
I was glad to see you.
This is all that matters.)
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? Our prompt for October has us tackling the terzanelle. You can learn more about the form at Shadow Poetry and Writer's Digest. We've added an extra challenge to use the words slight and might as one pair of end rhymes. Are you in? If you are, you’ve got a month to craft your creation(s), then share your offering with the rest of us on October 30th 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, so leave me a comment and a link, and I'll add you to the list. Happy Poetry Friday!
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Robyn Hood Black from Life on the Deckle Edge is sharing two of her poems in the current issue of FROGPOND.
Jama Rattigan at Jama's Alphabet Soup is celebrating 9-25 Dolly Parton Day with the Coat of Many Colors picture book and Dolly's recipe for Slaw of Many Colors.
Michelle Kogan took up the "Fault challenge" and is sharing her poem entitled Today.
April Halprin Wayland of Teaching Authors shares her poem entitled You Can't Order a Poem.
Karen Edmisten also took up our "Fault challenge" and is sharing her poem entitled It Was All My Fault.
Tabatha Yeatts of The Opposite of Indifference is sharing a selection of poems by Native poets.
**CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS** - Tabatha Yeatts is working on an upcoming poetry anthology for middle schoolers and has put out a call for submissions. Deadline: November 1, 2026. Go check it out!
