Welcome to April and National Poetry Month! How are you celebrating poetry this month?

Quite a few people have promised to write a poem each day, read a poem each day, learn more about different poets, or even share some of their poetry this month. I’m not sure I’ll jump on the “each day” wagon, but I’ll definitely join in the fun!

Participate with others!

I don’t know about you, but I love poetry, especially micropoetry. It used to be the only form of writing I tried.

Okay, I admit… I also used to write silly little stories when I was a teenager while sitting at the park. But I never wanted anyone to read those. They were ridiculous.

Eventually, I branched out more, finding my writer’s voice and seeing where the pen wanted to lead. However, no matter which pen I choose, it always finds a way to lead me back to poetry…

Not too long ago, I learned about the online writing community and started searching for other writers. Twitter became part of my world, which introduced me to numerous talented writers and teachers! Did you know there are chats, too?

On the first Monday of each month, a group of teacher-writers join together on Twitter for one of those chats. #TeachWrite is a wonderful group of teachers who write, and the Teach Write organization itself has a plethora of resources for teachers.

Anyway, our chat topic this month was poetry (of course). We talked about how we use poetry in our lives and how we incorporate poetry into our classroom. Even though we are teachers, not everything we shared was about the classroom.

I wanted to take a moment to share some of their advice with you:

• Andy Schoenborn: “We begin class with a poem every single day. Spoken word dances us into the day and embraces us with beautiful words. Poetry is truth.”
• Stacy Gibbs: “I once wrote a poem about a bad hair cut to share with my students. It helped us both.”
• Michelle Haseltine: “Poetry is all about breaking the rules, so try and give yourself permission to let go!”
• Paula Bourque: “My 2nd piece of advice for anyone who struggles with poetry is find MENTORS, MENTORS, MENTORS. Write ‘in the style of,’ lift a line, stand on the shoulders of others and walk in their shoes.
• Fran Haley: “Relax! If you want to write poetry – you can.”

I even shared my advice to add to all these great ideas!

Let’s write a poem!

Don’t even think the word can’t right now. It’s time to put all that advice we were given to good use, so let’s write a poem! The easiest way to start writing a poem is to let the words lead you. Watch…

You start with an idea,
or no idea at all…
Then skip down to the next
line
whenever it feels right.
Seriously,
look at what we’re doing here!

If you really want to shake things up,
then you can skip a line to create…
a new stanza—
And… BAM!

You’ve got a poem.

What you do next is up to you. Do you want your poem to rhyme? Or is it a free-verse? Maybe you want to follow a poetic format you read about recently? Maybe this is all it will ever be, or maybe you’re at the beginning of the poetry writing process…

Either way, you have a poem! Celebrate!

What now?

It’s your turn to take on National Poetry Month. How will you celebrate? Do you have your own poetry writing tips? Share with me in the comments below!