April is National Poetry Month! As you know, many poets participate by writing a poem a day throughout April. With that in mind, I thought you might enjoy a prompt for each day (you can do them all or pick and choose as you wish). In the list below, you’ll see a date and an inspiration word. Immediately under the date and word, you’ll find an example poem. The idea is to use the inspiration word and the example to "jump start" a poem of your own.
Begin by noting the inspiration word, and then read the example poem. (Remember that the example poem is just a sample; you'll want to give your poem it's own spin.) Next, do a short free write. Take a look at what you’ve written. Look for an idea, a line or a phrase, to develop into a poem. There’s one rule: you may use the inspiration word only once in your poem (twice if you use it in your title). Of course, if your muse is off on a three-martini lunch or vacationing in the south of France, you may just read and enjoy the poems without writing anything at all.
April 1 – Loveliness
April 2 – Light
April 3 – Nature
April 4 – Love
April 5 – Loss
April 6 – Letters
April 7 – Aging
April 8 – Morning
April 9 – Night
April 10 – Dancing
April 11 – Faith
April 12 – Choices
April 13 – Peace
April 14 – Freedom
April 15 – Darkness
April 16 – Wilderness
April 17 – Lost
April 18 – Beauty
April 19 – Forgetfulness
April 20 – Obstacles
April 21 – Death
April 22 – Despair
April 23 – Living
April 24 – Fear
April 25 – Seasons
April 26 – Sorrow
April 27 – Happiness
April 28 – Silence
April 29 – Animals
April 30 – Blessings
Be sure to visit Poets.org where you'll find a wealth of materials to help you celebrate poetry this month. You can read and listen to poems, download lesson plans, look for events in your area, and check out the National Poetry Map. You can also order copies of the poster seen in the illustration above.
If you'd like to listen to poems, there are over 400 audio clips available at http://www.poets.org/audio.php.
Happy Poetry Month, and happy writing!
