listen - day 1

 

 

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.

 

Here is poem 1.

 

 

Students - Today's card poem is simply me thinking about why I chose listening and sounds as the theme of my National Poetry Month project this year. I do have many favorite sounds, and I do recognize that I can become a much better listener. Many of the best listeners I know...are the wisest people I know. It is interesting to think about listening - and writing - as paths to becoming more thoughtful.

 

I did make a couple of lists of rhyming words (with the help of a favorite tool, RhymeZone) to help me write this poem. And I have a feeling that I will enjoy the challenge of the size-limit of an index card.

 

Enjoy the gifts that float into your ears....

 

xo,

a. 

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My Annual NPM Eve Post

   Happy National Poetry Month Eve!

From The Poem Farm, 2017

Tomorrow April begins, and with it, many folks will take on a National Poetry Month Project. Each year, for the past fourteen of fifteen Aprils, along with many other writers, I have chosen to write and share a daily poem. I like to write these collections around themes, and during the weeks before April, I toss many ideas around inside of my head. Here is a list of my past projects:

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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Write a Poem PSA

 

Tricky Tick

Drawing by Amy LV 

Students - My husband got a tick on him last week...it dug right in, and we had to dig it out. Then, when he picked up the medicine a couple of days later, there was a tick crawling on his hand from a morning hike. Alas, spring is here, and we are now remembering to tuck in our socks and check ourselves for ticks. In the night the other night, I found myself hearing the line, a tick may pick you...and it stuck itself to me...just like a tick.

Merriam Webster defines a public service announcement as "an announcement made for the good of the public," and today I am reminding you to beware of ticks. Today's poem is a brief announcement in the form of a poem, and while it does not include everything one can do to beware of ticks (check your body, keep grass trimmed...), there is some helpful and important advice in these lines. No one wants Lyme Disease. 

We write public service announcements when we wish to share information with others that we believe will help them. What information do you know that may help another person or group of people? You might try writing this information in the form of a poem, to teach and to have fun with words at the same time.

To learn more about protecting yourself from tick bites, and what to do if you do find a tick attached to you, check out this npr article. To learn more about different types of ticks, visit TickSafety.com. If you want to know more and more about ticks, listen to this podcast by The Field Guides.

Marcie is hosting today's Poetry Friday roundup over at Marcie Flinchum Atkins with happy news and information about her new book WHEN TWILIGHT COMES: THE ANIMALS AND PLANTS THAT BRING DAWN AND DUSK TO LIFE. Each Poetry Friday, all are invited to share poems, poem books, poetry ideas, and friendship in this open and welcoming poetry community. 

National Poetry Month begins next Wednesday, and as always, I'll be doing a poem-a-day project all month. You'll find more information here on Tuesday, March 31, but for now, please know that I welcome you to join me in a month of writing. My project is titled:

I look forward to spending the first day of National Poetry Month with the first graders of Indian Trail Elementary School in Canal Winchester, Ohio. Safe, good week to you all, my poem-y friends.

 

xo,

a. 

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Celebrate Something!

 

My Feet in the Garden This Morning

Photo by Amy LV

 

Students - Happy First Day of Spring! I am celebrating! Here in Western New York, we are alternating daily between warm sunny days and cold snowy days, but happily, spring bulb flowers are strong and can weather storms. Above you can see some little grape hyacinths and daffodils sprouting up in the garden outside my writing shed, Gratitude. We, too, can weather storms.

Today's poem is a poem of celebration. I have been visiting the gardens every day, walking around and welcoming each new sprout.  They feel like old friends coming back after a long trip to the Land of Winter. Today's poem also follows a particular form - the pantoum. I could only find one pantoum that I've written here at The Poem Farm....a poem about wearing masks, posted on July 3, 2020.

 The pantoum form is interesting in that it follows a particular repetition scheme but not a special meter. I was reminded of it by reading Stephen Dunning and William Stafford's book GETTING THE KNACK: 20 POETRY WRITING EXERCISES. You will notice in my spring pantoum that each stanza includes four lines, and in each stanza, the second and fourth lines repeat the first and third lines of the following stanza.

I love seeing messy drafts, so below you'll find mine from this morning. The numbers in parenthesis are a reminder to me that this line should repeat the line that is numbered in the parenthesis. I used a poem in Dunning and Stafford's book as a mentor for my rhyme and meter.

 

Pantoum Draft with Many Crossouts

Photo by Amy LV 

 

If you are ever unsure of what to write about on any given day, try walking around a part of your day and finding something to celebrate. Not only will you have a new bit of writing, you will lift your spirits too. 

Tanita is hosting today's Poetry Friday roundup over at Tanita S. Davis with wise words about how poems are songs and how songs can give us strength. Each Poetry Friday, all are invited to share poems, poem books, poetry ideas, and friendship in this open and welcoming poetry community. 

May you find warmth where you live this week, outside in the weather and inside of your heart. Remember that the way you act in the world can provide warmth and goodness for others too. Peace.

 xo,

Amy 

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Lean on a Meter

Thor and Amy, 1971

Photo by Debby or George Ludwig

 

Students - Earlier this week, I was writing in my notebook about names. We have two cars, an old one and a not-as-old-one, and each has a name. The old Accord is named Iris (she's blue), and the less-old one is named Pearl (she's pearly white). This got me thinking about children and dogs and cats and chickens and hamsters and horses and all of the beings we name in our lives. I thought about how some people name every dog or cat they ever have the same name, and well...I got a name bee in my bonnet! I decided to try to play with the idea of naming in a poem but was not sure how to begin.

Sometimes when I have a writing topic but not a way in, I read poems by others, and sometimes, I borrow a meter from someone else, counting the syllables and studying the rhymes, marrying those syllables and rhymes to my own topic. On this day, I read and played with and leaned into the poem "The Python" by Hillaire Belloc, using the same meter and rhyme as the first 8 lines of his poem. You can read Belloc's poem HERE at The LiederNet Archive if you wish to listen to the poem that I leaned on.

Where did I find this poem? Well, in this old book from 1968, a book remaindered from a library but still so very full of riches! Remember this...when someone else is throwing something away, this does not mean that their discarded object does not have value. It might be just what you need!

CURRENTS IN POETRY by Richard Corbin, 1968

 Photo by Amy LV

If you begin writing this week, and if you are not sure how to begin, I recommend taking a writing break. Turn to reading. Perhaps something about the way another writer has crafted a piece will give you some shoulders to stand on. We all need each other.

Margaret is hosting today's Poetry Friday roundup over at Reflections on the Teche with three different poems in three different forms offering three different small journeys. Each Poetry Friday, all are invited to share poems, poem books, poetry ideas, and friendship in this open and welcoming poetry community. 

Oh, if you're wondering how Thor (my first dog) got his name, I am not sure! Lots of love to you this week. Feel free to name a wild bird in your yard or a favorite chair in your home.

xo,

Amy

 

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Try Try Try a Tricube

Winnie, February 1, 2026

Video by Amy LV

Students - We like to tell ourselves that our cat Winnie is very smart. She is an indoor/outdoor cat, and so these Days of Deep Snow when she's stuck inside make her stir crazy. A few days ago, I caught Winnie tossing knitted hearts to the ground (spreading love?) and felt it urgent to film the moment. And while you can see Winnie tossing the hearts above, you cannot see the several times I filled and refilled her heart bowl. This was a good game.

As I think about our cat's simple fun, I think about how sometimes my own writing life gets a little boring too. I let it get boring and then I avoid it. I need to throw some hearts around like Winnie did, need to try something new and see what happens. Toss some words on the page and watch them fall over and over. Well, this week I'm playing, sharing a poem in a form I've never tried before.

Last week, as I moseyed around other people's Poetry Friday posts, I learned about a new-to-me form - the tricube. This form was invented by Phillip Larrea, an American journalist, and he first shared it in 2016 at Writer's Digest. So Happy 10th Birthday, Tricube!

As you have likely noticed, this is a simple form, and you can learn more about it here at Writer's Digest. No special rhyme. No special meter. Just this:

1. Three syllables per line

2. Three lines per stanza

3. Three stanzas

I chose to give my title three syllables too!

You might enjoy playing around with this not-scary form. I enjoyed making little lists of possible phrases to include and then moving them around the page. Now I'm thinking that I could even write phrases on bits of paper and actually, physically move them around my desk. I could even be fun to invite a group people to choose a subject and each write a few three syllable phrases, each on a different slip of paper, on that subject. Then, we could take the slips and move them around to form group tricubes.

Suddenly I don't feel bored...

This week I am happy to be a part the Colorado Reading Association (CCIRA) conference in Denver, Colorado. I'll be speaking about keeping writer's notebooks and stregthening writing through poetry study. Time with teachers is time that makes me feel grateful.

Molly is hosting today's Poetry Friday roundup over at Nix the Comfort Zone with two poems after Wendell Berry's "Like Snow." Each Poetry Friday, all are invited to share poems, poem books, poetry ideas, and friendship in this open and welcoming poetry community.

Trying something new is a creative way to face moments of boredom. Go ahead and push some objects off of a desk...or maybe consider writing a new-to-you kind of poem!

xo,

Amy

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Repeat What Matters to You

Happy Poetry Friday! The roundup is here today.

Heart in Snow

Photo by Amy LV

Students - Today's poem is about something I have been thinking about lately: ways to be good. And I wrote about it in the form of a triolet. I write many triolets here, and I've shared the following words about them in this space before as well:

A triolet is one of my favorite forms. I enjoy the rolling repetition and the way a writer can emphasize an idea simply by repeating it according to the form's rules. You will notice that lines 1, 4, and 7 match, as do lines 2 and 8.  If you look carefully, you will also notice that the rhyme scheme is: ABaAabAB. If you read it aloud and listen verrrry closely, you may notice that the poem is written in iambic pentameter, ten syllables per line with the accents reading daDUM, daDUM, daDUM, daDUM, daDUM.

The main thoughts that matter to me in today's poem are:

1. One can be one's best self in many different ways.

2. True goodness will not always be celebrated.

I think that this may be the first time that I have broken up the lines of a triolet as I usually keep them all in one eight-line stanza. I made today's line breaks, as one does, to emphasize the meaning of the lines I wish to stand out:

There are so many ways one can be good.

One cannot judge what matters by confetti.

When you write this week, you may consider repeating a line, either in your poems or in your prose. Repetition helps a reader focus, even when the reader doesn't realize it, and a writer can use repetition in different ways. Pay close attention to your reading to notice how your favorite writers use repetition to make something clear: a word, a phrase, a symbol, an action. Why might these repeat? Try what you admire.

Each Poetry Friday, all are invited to share poems, poem books, poetry ideas, and friendship in this open and welcoming poetry community. I'm hosting today, and if you have a link to leave, I welcome you to do so below. Whether you leave a link or not, you are most welcome to click around and explore for inspiration and goodness.

I wish you warmth and peace this week.

xo,

Amy

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