2010 - Birth of The Poem Farm -
I wrote a poem each day for a month, beginning actually, on March 29,
2010. This blog just to be a one month project, just for me, to get me
writing again as I awaited the publication of FOREST HAS A SONG. At the
end of April 2010, I was having too much fun to stop, decided to go for
one whole year, publishing a poem at The Poem Farm each day. And I
stayed to post on Fridays.
2011 - Daily Poems Again -
For each day of April 2011, I continued to write and share daily poems.
However, I had no theme as the blog was just entering its second year.
2012 - A-Z Dictionary Hike -
Here's where the themes began. Each day of April 2012, I opened my
children's dictionary to a different letter, starting with A, ending
with Z. Eyes closed, I pointed to a word and this word became the title
of that day's poem.
2013 - Drawing into Poems -
For each day of April 2013, I slowed myself down and looked closely at
an object, drawing it with black pen into my notebook. On some days, I
wrote poems from these drawings, but on many days, I simply allowed the
looking-drawing practice to practice becoming a closer observer.
2014 - Thrift Store - For
each day of April 2014, I wrote a poem from a photograph of an item I
found in a thrift store. These poems are no longer at The Poem Farm as
they are trying to be a book.
2015 - Sing That Poem - For
each day of April 2015, I wrote a poem to the meter of a well-known
tune and challenged readers to match the poem to the tune by seeing if
it was singable to the same meter. One of these singable poems ended up
in my book WITH MY HANDS: POEMS ABOUT MAKING THINGS.
2016 - Wallow in Wonder - For
my 2016 National Poetry Month project, I celebrated learning and
writing from learning, writing poems from each daily Wonder
at Wonderopolis. I have not yet collected these posts into one post,
but I may one day.
2017 - Writing the Rainbow - Each
day of April 2017, I randomly selected a different Crayola crayon from a
new box of 64. Each day, I wrote a poem inspired by the color I
chose. These poems all ended up telling the story of a young city girl
and the moments of her daily life and are no longer here at the blog.
2018 - 1 Subject *** 30 Ways -
Each day of April 2018, I wrote daily poems focused on the
constellation Orion. Each poem played with a different poetic
technique, and I used the lessons in my own book, POEMS ARE TEACHERS:
HOW STUDYING POETRY STRENGTHENS WRITING IN ALL GENRES, to stretch my
writing. These poems are not currently online.
2019 - Tell a Poemstory - In April 2019, I shared a series of 30 free verse poems that told a
story about a boy named John and a dog named Betsy and a lady named
Betsy. I am so happy to report that these will soon be published in a
picture book by Eerdmans.
2020 - Roll the Dice - For National Poetry Month 2020, I rolled three word dice daily (from inside my vintage
camper Betsy) and wrote daily poems inspired by one, two, or three of
the rolled words. You can watch the videos that went with these on
my YouTube channel, Keeping a Notebook Videos #13 - #42.
2021 - During April 2021, I was a a fourth grade teacher
after 22 years away and did not share a public poetry project in this
space but rather wrote with my own students.
2022 - Pick a Proverb - Throughout April 2022, I wrote a daily poem inspired by a
popular saying such as "The grass is always greener on the other side"
or "One person's trash is another person's treasure." These poems are
out on submission in the hope that they will one day grow up into a
book.
2023 - 24 Hours - In 2023, I shared a daily poem about 1 hour in 1 day in the life
of an old barn (my old barn) beginning with midnight and ending right
before the following midnight. Because April has 30 days, I wrote and
tucked 6 additional poems into the month.
2024 - One More or Less Line Crow
- Two years ago, I studied crows and shared a new crow poem each day of
April. The number of lines went from 1 to 15 and then back down to 1.
2025 - Hello My Name Is - Last year, I wrote a poem each day in the voice of Little Red Riding Hood, imagining her life with her new dog (wolf), family, friends, and community.
And this year I welcome you to LISTEN.
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. 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 past projects listed above, or on a project of your very own. To do so, simply write a poem each day of April in any way you wish. And give yourself grace. If you miss a day...or two...or three, don't worry. Just get back when you can. The poems will always be happy to see you.
Happy National Poetry Month, my dears!
xo,
a.
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