The Poem Farm

April 14 - swish of the brush

April 15 - heartbeat

April 16 - robin? sparrow?

Here is poem 17 -

Students - Did you ever laugh so hard you cried? Laugh so hard you almost forgot why you were laughing? Laugh so hard in a place where you should not be laughing at all? I have done all three, and each time, I feel more full, more me. Laughter, is, indeed like a good meal. And if you noticed that my poem is a metaphor (a poem that compares one thing to another) with the title as the thing I compare laughter to....you got it! Laughter is a good meal. Both make us feel full of goodness.

Go ahead and try this if you wish. Think of a sound. Compare that sound in your poem to another thing in the world, but do not name that thing. Instead, let that second thing become the title of your poem!

Heidi is hosting today's Poetry Friday roundup over at my juicy little universe with a lively recorded conversation about teaching poetry to elementary aged students.. 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.

Tell a joke! Make someone laugh today!

SNORT!

xo,

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Thursday, April 16, 2026

listen - day 16

National Poetry Month 2026 Poems

April 14 - swish of the brush

April 15 - heartbeat

Here is poem 16 -

Students - Lately, a lot of people have been using the Merlin app, an app that will identify all of the birds singing or calling around you at any given time. As with so much technology, something about this seems magical, so much information instantly in our hands, at the quick press of a button. It's great in many ways. In other ways, I wonder if we lose something. Sometimes I am aok with not identifying something, not knowing, just lying back in the mystery. I know that mystery might not be enjoyable for everyone and that it's not even a mystery at all - just something I personally don't know - but all the same, I'm sometimes very good with not knowing something.

Today's poem is in three wee stanzas. The first simply makes an observation. The second offers a thought about the observation. The third offers an opposing thought about that same observation. I find it interesting to look at a poem after writing it, to name what happens in the different parts. Sometimes I plan it out ahead of time; usually it plans itself out, and I learn what happened after it's complete. As writers, we can read our and others' writing to see how it fits together, then we can consciously and subconsciously use what we learn in our new writing.

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.

Can you hear a bird calling or singing right now? If you want to learn its name, see if you can figure it out or use a tool. If you don't want to know it's name, that's good too.

xo,

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Wednesday, April 15, 2026

listen - day 15

National Poetry Month 2026 Poems

April 14 - swish of the brush

Here is poem 15 -

Students - Earlier this month I was lying in bed in the quiet dark air, and suddenly I became aware of my heartbeat. The sound that people usually use to describe the beating of a heart is lub-dub, and to me this lub-dub sounds like footfalls, as if my blood is taking a hike through my blood vessels and arteries and heart...and you know what? It is! My heart is always beating, blood always lub-dub-hiking, and I usually just don't notice. This month of listening-noticing has been a wonderful gift to myself. How lucky I am to have a working heart.

Researching the work of blood, I read a bit about other body sounds. We make all kinds of noises related to food, and people sneeze and yawn with their own style. Do you make stretching noises in the morning or little satisfied noises when you eat or sighs when you're thinking or hums when you're happy? You might consider making a little list of sounds that come from you body. Maybe one will give you a writing idea.

You'll note that I use a lot of repetition here. That's because I wanted to mimic the sound of a heartbeat, alternating the lub-dub with each different line. And yes. This is a metaphor. Blood does not REALLY take a walk with feet as a complete body does, but blood can take a walk in a poem. Metaphor helps us see things anew.

Today I am grateful to spend time in two schools in Glen Rock, New Jersey. Thank you to Byrd School and Hamilton School for welcoming me on this, the halfway point of National Poetry Month. I am so happy to be spending this fifteenth day of April with you.

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 your heart feel full today...

xo,

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Tuesday, April 14, 2026

listen - day 14

National Poetry Month 2026 Poems

Here is poem 14 -

Students - This little poem is dedicated to Winnie of the clicky high heels. At present, we have three kitties, but Winnie has the biggest personality, and four sounds will bring her in: her name being called (or the song I made up for her), treats being shaken, a spoon scooping yogurt from a plastic container, and a brush going through my hair. These sounds will bring her clicking in from rooms away. Reading this, you might think it a little gross that I will brush Winnie's fur with my own brush. It probably is, but I do it anyway and am reminded smilingly of the lady I once watched share an ice cream cone with her dog in the front seat of her truck. We people are funny ones.

Today's poem has no rhymes but a lot of repetition for its short number of words. I have enjoyed the constraint of the index card this month and am considering continuing this habit for a while. The tight focus on sounds and listening coupled with the small space of a 3x5 card is teaching me about my own voice.

Is there a sound in your life that may be very particular to you? Some sounds we share (cereal falling into a bowl), but some are very specific to our own lives. I am guessing that it is unlikely that many of you brush your pet's hair with your very own brush.

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.

What might you share with a family member or friend or stranger or pet today?

Fancy Fur Winnie

Photo by Amy LV

xo,

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Monday, April 13, 2026

listen - day 13

National Poetry Month 2026 Poems

Here is poem 13 -

Students - I love the sound and the feel of buttons...old fashioned buttons especially. Old calculators, adding machines, old and early toys with buttons, my own computer keyboard (though truth be told, I would prefer taller, clackier buttons). Before I became a fast typist, I would just click away at the typewriter keyboard, not real words, just words like this: sfsdcew reweropsfd arewreace ersz. Why? Because it was fun! Because I loved the feel, loved the sound, and loved pretending that I typed well and fast.

Now I do type well and fast, and honestly, I can't describe enough how grateful I am to have learned this skill. So on a side note from writing, I suggest learning to type well and fast. Sure, you can use read your writing into the computer, but if this is not necessary for you, know that there is something to be gained by handwriting and by typing word by word by word. Use your body. And enjoy the clacks.

You might notice a repeating vowel sound in this poem. Can you find it? Repeating a vowel sound over and over in a poem has a special name. This name is assonance.

Can you think of a sound that YOU enjoy making? What might you compare this sound to?

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.

Signing off with a fast clackity-tappity-dance...

xo,

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If you are under 13 years old, please only comment

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Sunday, April 12, 2026

listen - day 12

National Poetry Month 2026 Poems

Here is poem 12 -

Students - Here in Western New York, our spring fluctuates between very warm days and very cold days. I do my best to find the good in all of it, and one of my favorite winter moments from childhood when heat blew from a register under the kitchen sink to now when we split our heat between a wood stove and heater in our living room (the heat floates upstairs through holes in the ceilings) is warming my feet by the heat.

Writing this poem, I most enjoyed making the heater hum and breathe...just as people hum and breathe. In poetry-land, we call this personification, the giving of human qualities to non-human things.

You might wish to try playing around with personification. Choose an object or an animal, and make a list of some of the actions it does using non-human language. Then try to change some of those words, stretching them to make them actions that people do. If you like one or more of your personification bits, write a poem around it. Practice this personification imagining in your life, and soon it will creep into your writing (see what I did there?) without you even noticing.

Example:

Vacuum cleans...........Vacuum dances............Vacuum gobbles

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.

Here's to finding cozy moments in ever season and to seeking the humanity in all people, animals, and objects too.

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 11, 2026

listen - day 11

National Poetry Month 2026 Poems