Ah, April…
The month when spring begins to blossom before our eyes, rain nourishes the greening grass and poets across the country celebrate National Poetry Month! Sure, every month feels like National Poetry Month here at LI. Can you blame us? National Poetry Month prompts and poems for both readers and writers alike is available to help celebrate our favorite artistic avenue: poetry. Poetry is an art form that encourages us to dive into our deepest emotions with ease. Artful lines lead both readers and writers through a journey, often revealing new, beautiful truths.
With a great book of poetry in your hands, you are never alone.
So let’s show our favorite genre some extra love this month with inspiration to keep your poetic passion flowing. From E.E. Cummings to Cleo Wade, the daily poems and prompts ahead will give you endless reasons to read, discover, write and explore poetry!
Happy reading, writing and, most of all, happy National Poetry Month!
National Poetry Month Prompts and Poems for each day of April!
1. Some Like Poetry by Wislawa Szymborska
Poetry Prompt: Write a poem on what poetry means to you!
2. Starting Over by David Harris
Poetry Prompt: Nothing captures the ups and downs of new beginnings quite like poetry. Today, write a poem on change and new beginnings.
3. Four Haiku by Matsuo Basho
Poetry Prompt:
Haikus are tricky
But you should try something new
Write a spring haiku
(…See what we did there?…)
4. A Friend Poem by Gillian Jones
Poetry Prompt: Create a poem celebrating friendship.
5. To The River Charles by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Poetry Prompt: Choose a body of water and write use poetry to describe its beauty.
6. Windy by Padre
Poetry Prompt: Today, create a poem in which every line begins with the same letter.
7. Sick by Shel Silverstein
Poetry Prompt: Tap into the wildest parts of your imagination! Write a poem to entertain your 7 year old self.
8. I Opened A Book by Julia Donaldson
Poetry Prompt: Okay bookworms, it’s your time to shine! Use a your favorite book as a poetic subject.
9. An Acrostic by Edgar Allen Poe
Poetry Prompt: Create an acrostic poem spelling your name. (Bonus points if you include your last name!)
10. For All Time by Kyle Corray
Poetry Prompt: Write a short poem using only monosyllabic words.
11. My Childhood Home I See Again by Abraham Lincoln
Poetry Prompt: Home can mean so many things. But it always creates a visceral reaction within us. Use your childhood home as inspiration for a poem.
12. I carry your heart with me by E.E. Cummings
Poetry Prompt: Through a free verse poem, tell a love story. Learn more about different types of poetry such as free verse here.
13. The Rose Bowl by Andrea Dietrich
Poetry Prompt: Write 12 lines vividly illustrating a stunning sunset!
14. Ae Fond Kiss by Robert Burns
Poetry Prompt: Often, the hardest times can fuel the most potent writing. And if not, it is always a beautiful way to process and heal. Dive deep today and write poetry on loss, grief, or heartbreak.
15. Stars by Jewel Guerra
Poetry Prompt: Find the nearest piece of lengthy text near you and create a blackout poem from it!
16. When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer by Walt Whitman
Poetry Prompt: Explore the cosmos and write a poem conveying what you feel when you look at the night sky.
17. Morning Poem by Mary Oliver
Poetry Prompt: Fresh morning, fresh inspiration! Describe your thoughts and feelings about the morning time
18. If Once You Have Slept On An Island by Rachel Lyman Field
Poetry Prompt: Choose a place you dream of visiting and use vivid imagery to poetically explain why it calls to you!
19. Sonnet 17 by William Shakespeare
Poetry Prompt: Create a poem mirroring the style of a favorite poet of yours.
20. Be Drunk by Charles Baudelaire
Poetry Prompt: Forget the line breaks today and try your hand at prose poetry.
21. A thought went up my mind today by Emily Dickinson
Poetry Prompt: Take a walk down memory lane today. Write a poem based on your most cherished memory!
22. The garden of delight by Lucille Clifton
Poetry Prompt: Throw punctuation out the window, write a poem without it!
23. Tell me how the world ends by Amanda Torroni
Poetry Prompt: Sit and listen to the noises that surround you. Create a poem on what you hear.
24. Colors by Margaret Elizabeth Sangster
Poetry Prompt: Write poetry focusing on an object that is your favorite color.
25. She sang my soul back together by Cleo Wade
Poetry Prompt: There’s no denying the power of music! Listen to a favorite song and create a poem on the emotions and feelings it evokes within you.
26. Ode to a Nightingale by John Keats
Poetry Prompt: Write an ode honoring a loved one.
27. Letter to My Younger Self by TheBlackBird
Poetry Prompt: We only find the words our younger self needed to hear as we get older. Today, spend time connecting with a younger version of yourself and write a poetic letter to them!
28. Remember by Joy Harjo
Poetry Prompt: Use poetry to pour into yourself today. Create a poem as a letter to your present self.
29. Who Will I Be Tomorrow by Jennifer Proxenos
Poetry Prompt: Consider the person you want to become. What do they do? How do they view the world? What kind of life surrounds them? What would they tell you now? Create a poem as a letter to your future self.
30. Still, I Rise by Maya Angelou
Maya Angelou has appeared multiple times on LI. She’s made quite the the impact and we are finishing out the month strong with her moving poetry! View additional poetry we love that inspired women’s history.
Poetry Prompt: No one will ever be able to tell your story quite like you. Explain who you are through a poem using an ABAB rhyme scheme.
We hope you enjoyed our National Poetry Month Prompts and Poetry for 2023. Just because the month has come to an end does not mean you need to stop loving poetry. Check out our social pages and share some of your poetry with us! We’d love to read it. Or enter into our poetry contest, we always have one running and who knows, maybe you’ll be the next winner!
