 Matt at Radio, Rhythm & Rhyme is hosting Poetry Friday today. It's National Poetry Month and I couldn't be happier. There's so much happening this month. First up is the 2026 Kidlit Progressive Poem. It's a poem party and each week the poem builds a line by a different poet. Here's this year's line up. April 1 Tabatha Yeatts at The Opposite of Indifference April 2 Cathy Stenquist at A Little Bit of This and That April 3 Patricia Franz at Reverie April 4 Donna Smith at Mainely Write April 5 Janice Scully at Salt City Verse April 6 Denise Krebs at Dare to Care April 7 Ruth Hersey at There is no such thing as a God-forsaken town April 8 Rose Cappelli at Imagine the Possibilities April 9 Margaret Simon at Reflections on the Teche April 10 Janet Clare Fagel at Reflections on the Teche April 11 Diane Davis at Starting Again in Poetry April 12 Linda Baie at Teacher Dance April 13 Linda Mitchell at Another Word Edgewise April 14 Jone MacCulloch at Jone Rush MacCulloch April 15 Joyce Uglow at Storied Ink April 16 Carol Varsalona at Beyond Literacy Link April 17 Robyn Hood Black at Life on the Deckle Edge April 18 Michele Kogan at More Art for All April 19 Kim Johnson at Common Threads April 20 Buffy Silverman April 21 Irene Latham at Live Your Poem April 22 Karen Edmisten April 23 Heidi Mordhorst at my juicy little universe April 24 Mary Lee Hahn at A(nother) Year of Reading April 25 Tanita Davis at Fiction, instead of Lies April 26 Sharon Roy at Pedaling Poet April 27 Tracey Kiff-Judson at Tangles and Tails  Next Saturday, April 11, I'll be hosting my quarterly Poetry Pop-up at 11 AM EST. Are you curious about this gathering? What happens at a Pop-Up Poetry Salon? It’s a time to gather with other poets and write for about an hour. I typically plan a couple of prompts or invitations to spark ideas for writing. We write for about 20-ish minutes. Then we have the opportunity to share and give positive feedback. Frequency of the Salons I like to hold pop-ups about once a season. Why I Hold the Pop-ups I feel more than ever we are needing community and time to write. For me, writing is art. I want a safe space to try out ideas. There’s a creative spark when we gather, write, and share. It's great to have something to come back to later or say that’s enough for now. If you'd like the link, please let me know in the comments or shoot me an email. Student WorkOne of the things I love about teaching poetry when I’m subbing is providing students a way to express themselves. I also stay curious with how I’m presenting and teaching. Recently, I figured out how to draw out similes and metaphors from students by rephrasing. For example, instead of asking for colors, I asked for “the color of…” Something I noticed with the poems I’m sharing today is how students played with the animal sounds Cheep, peep, cheep Peep, cheep, peep Peep, cheep, cheep Wo-of, wo-of, wo-of Wo-o-f, wo--of, woo--f W-o-of, w-o-of, w-oo-f Me-ow, me-oow,meo-w Me-ow. Me-oow, meo-w Me-ow, me-oow, meo-w Squawk, squawk, squawk Nan, nan, nan Flap, flap, flap I just love their playfulness I'm Hosting Next Week. Looking Forward to the PartyPoetry Friday, Week 13: A Family Literacy Event and Getting Ready for National Poetry Month3/27/2026
Marcie at Marcie Flinchum Atkins is hosting today. Her book When Twilight Comes is here! I can't wait for my copy. She's writing about my favorite time of day. If you have a twilight poem to share, tag her: @MarcieFAtkins Hashtag: #PoetryFriday Share your link: www.marcieatkins.com/blog Family Literacy NightI was invited as a poet to participate in my friends' elementary school's literacy night this week. I've subbed in the library when they had librarians and in the classrooms there in the past. I was over planned for the event with four activities: three were stations and one was a whole group activity. It was clear that the whole group didn't fit the needs of the night. The stations included the following: Station One: Read Some Poetry Station Two: Write a Haiku with Haiku Cubes Station Three: Write a 3 line or 6 line poem using the Poetry Cubes As I set up the stations, I realized that I had three risk levels: low for the reading poetry books, medium risk for using the Poetry Cubes, and high for using the Haiku Cubes. I set up examples on a chart. And I made sure to pull some of the more adult words from the Haiku Cubes (IYKYK). Families came in and out the whole hour. What I didn't plan on was that a few students just wrote a poem on their own. I had cards, tags, and library pockets for them to create a "Poem in a Pocket", thinking they could copy the poem they wrote from the station. It reminded me of how much fun I had during the years I helped family library nights at my school National Poetry Month: Verse of Ages Daily Word Prompts I belong to the Oregon Writers' Colony. Every year, they publish a word list for April and follow up with a reading. When I had my "Poetry Rocks" group, we attended and share poems. With my book getting ready to launch, I have the bandwidth to participate with these little word nuggets. I hope you can join me and are inspired by the words. My friend and creator of the list, Susan Blackaby, says this: To celebrate National Poetry Month, OWC is once again hosting Verse of Ages. Get ready for a month of prompts and myriad ways to stretch your imagination! Skip the rules and see how words spark ideas and then go where they take you. Here are some ways to use the prompts, but these are just guidelines:
Save the DateThe next Poetry Pop-Up Writing Salon will be on Saturday, April 11, 2026. It will be at 11 AM EST.
It's going to be a busy weekend for me as I am hosting on Friday, April 10. Perfect way to celebrate National Poetry Month.  Heidi at my juicy little universe is hosting our weekly poetry fest. She will be sharing the next line for this year's progressive poem.
First off, apologies for neglecting hosting duties last week by not visiting your posts. I plan to correct that after this post. Also, if you are on the Wordpress platform, Wordpress hated me. I can never get my comments to post. I have changed my password so many times! Next week is the end of semester at Texas Woman's University. It's been a great year. I am especially happy to have worked with Heidi Bee Roemer with the midterm project. My students have successfully submitted their work to Heidi's Steamed Power Poetry Contest. Please take a moment to enjoy these videos. Mariana V.: At The Pet Shop by Heidi Bee Roemer. Clarissa R.:Welcome to the Science Lab by Heidi Bee Roemer Sierra B.: Name That Seed! by Heidi Bee Roemer Aisha L.: Ode to the Washing Machine by Rebecca Kai Dotlich Victoria T.: My New Remote by Ken Nesbitt Note: The static audio at the beginning is intentional. Jaime A: Ms Quito Bandito by Heidi Bee Roemer Brandi B: Computer Tutor by Charles Ghigna Jeanne-Marie M: Ghazel For the Sky.mp4 by Mary Lee Hahn Samantha M: E-Reader! E-Reader! By Heidi Bee Roemer Minerva R: Time is Winning by Janet Wong Sarah S: The Blue Whale by Heidi Bee Roemer  Susan at Soul Blossom Living is hosting all the poetry goodness for us today. She is also rounding up who is doing what for National Poetry Month. which begins next week. April? We are one fourth done with 2021? Wow. What's Happening Here for National Poetry Month?Each Friday, I have an interview from four authors regarding their new Verse Novels. And for National Arbor Day on April 30, 2021, Lita Judge, author of The Wisdom of Trees will be sharing her thoughts. April 2 POETRY FRIDAY: ALLAN WOLF April 9 POETRY FRIDAY: LISA FIPPS April 16 POETRY FRIDAY: CHRIS BARON April 23 POETRY FRIDAY: JOANNE FRITZ April 30 POETRY FRIDAY: LITA JUDGE But wait, there is more... Mondays through Thursdays, I am revising and revising poems that I have found tucked away or on the blog.
A Revisit and Revise Redux if you will. Please comment as much as possible as I will be giving away prizes each week. PLUS there will be a Grand Prize at the end of month: A copy of STARFISH A copy of THE WISDOM OF TREES and a couple surprises, shhh.... Hope you will join me for National Poetry Month. It going to fun and I'm celebrating 15th year of National Poetry Month. |
AuthorAll photos and poems in these blog posts are copyrighted to Jone Rush MacCulloch 2006- Present. Please do not copy, reprint or reproduce without written permission from me. 
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