The Poem Farm

Thursday, April 30, 2026

listen - day 30

As I strive to become a better listener and to connect more with my sense of hearing, National Poetry Month 2026 finds me writing daily, handwritten, index card poems inspired by sounds and listening.. I have begun a new notebook to collect the sounds I notice throughout the month, and I will reflect on them in short poems. My ears - and my heart - are open wide.

I invite you to join me in this project, on any of my projects from the past 16 years, or on a project of your very own. To do so, simply write a poem each day of April in any way you wish. Share or don't share, as you wish. Your poems are your poems. Your projects are your projects. And if you wish learn a bit more about writing poetry, I welcome you to the short lessons in the tab above: COAXING POEMS VIDEOS - 2024.

National Poetry Month 2026 Poems

April 29 - every night

Here is poem 30 -

Students - As I have been writing poems about sounds this month, I have often found myself thinking about quiet. And quiet is quiet - no sound. But then again, quiet IS its own sound, something I realized after a month of focusing on sounds I hear.

Today's poem is a list poem, listing a few very specific quiet things, ending with a reminder of quiet's message, and my own discovery. It has been a delight to pay closer attention to sounds in my life over the past 30 days, and I believe that in some way, this has changed me. Thank you for joining me on this journey of listening..

Today is Poem in Your Pocket Day! I encourage you to place a poem in your pocket and to share it with those you meet today. I wrote a book illustrated by Emma Virján, to celebrate this day. Learn about If This Bird Had Pockets: A Poem in Your Pocket Day Celebration HERE.

I am carrying Rudyard Kipling's "Seal Lullaby" in my pocket today. It is a beautiful poem, and many years ago, one of our daughters memorized it and recited it to us. A treasured memory that I will hold close all day.

To learn about many of the wonderful National Poetry Month projects that took place online this April, visit the generous Jama Rattigan at Jama's Alphabet Soup.

May you always listen and be listened to....

xo,

Please share a comment below if you wish.

Know that your comment will only appear after I approve it.

If you are under 13 years old, please only comment

with a parent or as part of a group with your teacher.

Wednesday, April 29, 2026

listen - day 29

National Poetry Month 2026 Poems

Here is poem 29 -

Students - Poets use repetition in many ways: repeating words, whole lines, rhyming sounds, initial consonants, and even vowel sounds. You will hear that each short line of today's poem includes a word with the short u sound: mumble, plush, tumble, snug. So even though the poem does not rhyme, these vowels hold the lines together with a type of invisible glue. The repetition of vowel sounds in a poem is called assonance.

When I am at my best in writing, I carefully review each word of a poem, asking "Is this the just-right word?" Sometimes I do not realize that a word is not-just-right until much later, when I am eating a meal or taking a walk. At these times, my fingers get itching to return to the writing to make it more just-right.

Remember this - you can think about your poems when you are sitting with pencil or computer in hand...and you can also think about your poems when you are out and about in the world of your life. Poetry can become a secret that you carry as you do every thing you do.

Tomorrow is Poem in Your Pocket Day, so if you have not done so yet, you may wish to choose a poem to carry in your pocket and share tomorrow. I wrote a book illustrated by Emma Virján, to celebrate this day. Learn about If This Bird Had Pockets: A Poem in Your Pocket Day Celebration HERE.

To learn about many of the wonderful National Poetry Month projects happening online this April, visit the generous Jama Rattigan at Jama's Alphabet Soup.

Tomorrow is the last day of National Poetry Month, but it is not the last day for us to write and share poems together. I have been here since 2010, and I do not plan to go anywhere anytime soon.

xo,

Please share a comment below if you wish.

Know that your comment will only appear after I approve it.

If you are under 13 years old, please only comment

with a parent or as part of a group with your teacher.

Tuesday, April 28, 2026

listen - day 28

National Poetry Month 2026 Poems

April 27 - drum solo

Here is poem 28 -

Students - Popcorn is one of my favorite foods. When I was a little girl, my dad would often pop a big pot of popcorn on the stovetop. I loved to hear the sizzle and the dings, smell the butter and salt, and crunch those warm and perfect little clouds of goodness. I still make popcorn this way - on the stovetop, in a big pot, with sizzly oil. Yes, I will happily eat microwave popcorn or bags of gas station or grocery store popcorn. I will eat any kind of popcorn. But at least weekly, I pop popcorn on the stovetop, just like my dad. And should I be alone for dinner, this will often BE the dinner. I like making caramel corn, and recently, I found my Grandmother Geraldine's recipe for popcorn balls. These are in my future.

Today's poem was a joy to write. I kept imagining making popcorn and then made some. I also read the lines aloud many times while drafting. I wanted the poem to feel playful and a little bit rushed and exciting (I can never wait to eat popcorn), and so enjoyed repeating words with different line breaks too. I am hoping that the movement of the two repeating word lines feels like the movement of kernels heating up and popping across the hot oil.

Some foods make no sounds. Some foods make lots of sound. What noisy foods do you like to eat? And remember, writing can be a joy, can be fun. Read your words aloud and switch things around until the words feel just right to you. This type of work is what I call "fun work."

This week, I am again in residence Seely Elementary School in the Edgemont School District in Scarsdale, NY for four days full of assemblies and writing with all of the K-4 students. I cannot wait to see these writers and read to read their poetry again.

To learn about many of the wonderful National Poetry Month projects happening online this April, visit the generous Jama Rattigan at Jama's Alphabet Soup.

May you learn to make your own favorite snacks and share them with those you care about.

xo,

Please share a comment below if you wish.

Know that your comment will only appear after I approve it.

If you are under 13 years old, please only comment

with a parent or as part of a group with your teacher.

Monday, April 27, 2026

listen - day 27

National Poetry Month 2026 Poems

April 24 - this fire

April 25 - sneeze music

April 26 - winter morning wondering

Here is poem 27 -

Students - Living near the woods as I do, at this time of year, I will often hear woodpeckers loudly drumming on distant trees, claiming territory and calling in mates.The speaker in today's poem describes a woodpecker drilling and then speaks directly to the woodpecker itself. When a poet speaks to something not present, this is called an apostrophe poem. The last few lines of today's poem address an absent woodpecker as the speaker thinks about its territory, its claiming, its life so different than that of the human speaker.

Which faraway person or animal or object might your speaker address in a poem? What might your speaker say to this person or animal or object? Remember: the speaker of your poem need not be you. The speaker of your poem can be anyone or anything at all, real or imagined. And if you wish, you might even take a poem you already wrote and now revise it somehow, as an apostrophe poem. We can always turn our poems inside out and upside down. They're ours to play with!

To learn about many of the wonderful National Poetry Month projects happening online this April, visit the generous Jama Rattigan at Jama's Alphabet Soup.

My hope for you today is that you will hear a nature sound that surprises you...

xo,

Please share a comment below if you wish.

Know that your comment will only appear after I approve it.

If you are under 13 years old, please only comment

with a parent or as part of a group with your teacher.

Sunday, April 26, 2026

listen - day 26

National Poetry Month 2026 Poems

Here is poem 26 -

Students - Something I have noticed this month is that our home is a pretty quiet home. We live on a country road with almost no traffic, our children are grown, we do not keep TV or radio on in the background, we do not play video games, and our cats, while not totally quiet, are not boisterous. So as the month has gone on, I have needed to push myself to think of sounds. This one is a seasonal sound, one we only hear during certain (though many) months of the year. Plows are loud, and I loved that lie-a-bed time of wondering if snowy days would become official snow days, for me, for Mark, for our children. For folks who live in cold climates, snow days are sweet surprises!

One way to gather ideas for writing (sound ideas or other ideas) is to fold a piece of paper into four quadrants, or take four separate sheets of paper, and label each with one of the seasons: spring, summer, winter, fall. Then, under each heading, list some sounds or memories or images that come to you related to that season. Our lists will all be different, depending on the weather where each of us lives.

To learn about many of the wonderful National Poetry Month projects happening online this April, visit the generous Jama Rattigan at Jama's Alphabet Soup.

I wish you a fun-to-think-about question today!

xo,

Please share a comment below if you wish.

Know that your comment will only appear after I approve it.

If you are under 13 years old, please only comment

with a parent or as part of a group with your teacher.

Saturday, April 25, 2026

listen - day 25

National Poetry Month 2026 Poems

April 24 - this fire

Here is poem 25 -

Students - This little poem goes back and forth between the voice of the sneezer and the voice of the blesser. The sneezer's sneezes are on the left, the blessers blessings are on the right, and the two voices come together at the end with a relieved phew!

I have often been the blesser in this sneezy situation, and when I wrote today's poem, I found myself thinking about the different ways that people sneeze. Sometimes there's an accent on the first syllable - AH-choo! Sometimes there's an accent on the second syllable - ah-CHOO! Sometimes both syllables are equally accented, sometimes soft and sometimes loud. I chose to use capital letters to indicate the accented syllables today so that readers know which syllables to stress when reading. Each sneeze sounds different! You probably noticed that I matched the capital letters to each sneeze and blessing.

If you pay attention to the conversations in your day, you might discover a poem - silly or serious - that is hiding in a conversation.

To learn about many of the wonderful National Poetry Month projects happening online this April, visit the generous Jama Rattigan at Jama's Alphabet Soup.

Stay healthy, my dear friends!

xo,

Please share a comment below if you wish.

Know that your comment will only appear after I approve it.

If you are under 13 years old, please only comment

with a parent or as part of a group with your teacher.

Friday, April 24, 2026

listen - day 24

National Poetry Month 2026 Poems

Here is poem 24 -

Students - In truth, a fire in the fireplace may not rustle the last words of trees for those trees become ash which returns to the soil which becomes plants which feed animals which make new noises. But. For this poem, the actual tree-wood is sharing its last words as a fire in our home.

I adore a good wood fire, and thank goodness for that as we heat much of our home with wood, and so this means stacking wood, carrying wood, and loading wood into the wood stove. Fortunately, we do not need to cut the trees down and up, as we barter firewood for use of tapping some of our maples for syrup.

Today's poem feels a little bit sad and a little bit grateful to me. Are there any sounds in your life that have a feeling attached to them? Our kitties' purrs make me feel loved, and a loved one's sniffle makes me feel a bit worried.

Irene is hosting today's Poetry Friday roundup over at Live Your Poem with so much goodness, from new book joy (welcome, Some Starry Night!) to a new ArtSpeak: WOMEN poem. Each Poetry Friday, all are invited to share poems, poem books, poetry ideas, and friendship in this open and welcoming poetry community.

To learn about many of the wonderful National Poetry Month projects happening online this April, visit the generous Jama Rattigan at Jama's Alphabet Soup.

Now I am thinking about what the last words of trees might be. What are you thinking about?

Pages

Thursday, April 30, 2026

listen - day 30

Wednesday, April 29, 2026

listen - day 29

Tuesday, April 28, 2026

listen - day 28

Monday, April 27, 2026

listen - day 27

Sunday, April 26, 2026

listen - day 26

Saturday, April 25, 2026

listen - day 25

Friday, April 24, 2026

listen - day 24