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
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,
a.
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