18, April 18th, Supporting Others

Inspiration: Have you ever noticed that friends can be a big help when you are frustrated or feeling like a failure? Why is that? Well, friends want to take away your pain, but positive words or saying “not everyone is good at X” are not always helpful …

17, April 17th, A Letter (Epistle)

Inspiration: An epistle is a poem or story in the form of a letter or a series of letters. Try this form for your poem today. Write a letter to your future self, but do not say it is to your future self; instead, start …

19, April 19th, Visual Writing

Inspiration: Often poets use images, paintings, or photographs to inspire writing. Today, pick one of these pics to spark your poem (or choose your own image and link to it). Consider one of these ideas to get you poem-ing: Write the inner thoughts of a …

15/30, A Poem and 15 Middle School Verse Novels

I am 15 days into my 30 days of verse novels. The image of this post includes the covers of 15 great middle school verse novels that junior high students are reading right now. And there are many, many more. I will feature all of …

12, April 12th, If I could offer some advice…

Inspiration: You have learned a lot in your lifetime. I bet you have some advice to give  that would, if not make life easier for anther, comfort another in their journey to make sense of this world. If you are up for it today, write …

11, April 11th, Lists

Inspiration: Writing poems can be intimidating. One exercise that spoken word artist Sarah Kay suggests to make poem-ing more accessible is making lists. The list itself can be the poem or the list can be a springboard for creating other poems. There are many list …

10, April 10th, Songs, Lyrics, and Instruments

Inspiration: People say that music is the universal language.  It’s the one language everyone can understand, regardless of whether you speak English, Spanish, or Chinese.  Think about the role of music in your life, and maybe use one of the following questions to get you …

9, April 9th, Your courage

Inspiration:  In school, we study courageous figures in history, courageous characters in the novels we read, and courageous people in our world right now.  Do we talk enough about the courage within YOU? When was the last time we asked you to share stories of …

8, April 8th, Lessons Learned

Inspiration: We have had many teachers in our life. Our parents were our first teachers — how to eat with our fingers, how to walk, how to tie our shoes, how to say please and thank you. Of course, there are the teachers since kindergarten …