Day 1 “Yes, that’s ME” poem for “30 Poems in 30 Days" #NationalPoetryMonth

WELCOME to National Poetry Month!! Cheers!! Some of you reading this have been joining in now for several years, others may be completely new!! The first day of the “30 Poems in 30 Days” is always a fun one to try out a poem to get to know each other.

So, here’s just a few “notes” about what I’m doing. This is the SIXTH year that I will be running a poetry challenge here on my blog. It’s lots of fun and I am convinced that ANYONE can write poetry if they just follow the instructions and examples. I hope many of you write lots of poetry, even the flowing, lyrical, delicious, thought-provoking poetry after the style of many famous poets. But I also know that just following along in these more basic poetry forms CAN produce surprising and AMAZING poetry that is just delightful and often just as thought-provoking as any of the great poets out there.

Please remember – you may LINK to this post but you MAY NOT copy and paste my instructions or examples. It’s true, anyone can Google “How to write” this type or that type of poetry, but I have spent considerable time putting these posts together with my own voice and personality and anything I post on my blog is automatically copyrighted, INCLUDING any poetry that participants write in the comments here on my blog. So, please, just respect everyone’s creative work and we will respect yours.

A few ideas for sharing your poems: You can leave a copy of it each time (or however many times you wish) here in the comments of this blog, you can post your poems on your FB or Instagram pages, on your OWN blog, IN our FB group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/178557275869627/, or simply create your own little notebook or journal of poems for this year’s challenge for yourself and your family.

Ready? Great!! OK, here’s an easy one to start with (well, easy, except for the being vulnerable part).

Let’s get to know each other – this is simply a “Fill in the blank” style of poem.

Finish each of these lines by revealing something about yourself – it can be serious our humorous – up to you. No rhyming or word or syllable counts to worry about with this poetry form. When you are done – you will have completed a “Yes, that’s ME” poem.

Yes, that’s me

Look and you’ll see

My hair ___________

My eyes __________

My arms __________

My hands _________

My heart _________

I’m ______________

I never ___________

My friends ________

I live _____________

I hope ____________

I dream ___________

It’s all clear as can be

That’s positively, absolutely me

Here’s an example of one I wrote (just filling in the rest of the sentences) a few years ago:

Yes, that’s me

Look and you’ll see
My hair has a mind of its own
My eyes see what’s important
My arms still have the strength for lots of hugs
My hands are always busy
My heart has been broken but still beats when it should
I’m always learning
I never get bored
My friends are a nice variety
I live to do the best I can
I hope I make a difference
I dream of possibilities
It’s all clear as can be
That’s positively, absolutely me

                © 2015 Stephanie Abney

OK - your turn!! Just fill in the blanks and you'll have created your first poem for the month of APRIL 2018! It's so easy!!