20 Writing Prompts for National Poetry Month
Unleash Your Creativity This April with Inspiring Prompts
Happy April! More specifically, happy National Poetry Month. Founded in April 1996, this month is a celebration of poets and their role in culture and a reminder that poetry matters. This is also a day to highlight some amazing poems, full of events throughout the world and also, to stretch your creative abilities with some written work. Every year is a fun exercise of writing a poem a day for the entire month.
This year is a challenge for you to open up your notebook and really dig deep with your writing ( or your Google Docs / Microsoft Word if you are on the more tech savvy end) with prompts to get you started. To be clear, poetry isn’t a formulated a-b-a-b rhyme scheme. It can be whatever you wish it to be. Have fun with the way you write it. Make a grocery list, write a letter, write a story, an essay, a text message, anything to get creative with the following prompts. Be sure to venture into The Poetry Foundation, Poets Organization or Button Poetry to read, hear or learn about more poetry.
20 Writing Prompts for April 2026
1.Writing prompt from Hanif Abdurraqib: “What do you need in order to live well today? Make sure the answer is something concrete and within reach.”
2.Prompt from Joel Francois: create an anatomy of a good day (parts that go together) What does joy have to do with it? Find the space of a really good day and joy ( What gets in the way of it)
3.An ode is a type of poem or song that is focused on something or someone that is praiseworthy. Odes elevate ordinary, under-appreciated, overlooked people and items to the light and show, according to the writer, why they should be. Create an Ode poem about something or someone you deeply cherish
4.Choose a day of the week and write an apology for taking that day for granted. Think about what usually happens on these days ( ex. Friday is payday generally, how would you apologize for paying bills on time?)
5.Watch Rudy Francisco’s “On Days Like This” Create your own poem starting with the lines “On days like this…”
6.Choose a color. Write a poem as if you are that poem. Consider how this color may feel in relation to other colors or the emotions generally attached to that color.
7.A Haiku is a series of three line poems written in a 5-7-5 syllable count, often about nature. Create 3-5 haikus exploring nature
8.Listen to Amiyah Anderson’s “I was Born in Quicksand” Create your own poem starting with “I was born in…” think about something natural that could be connected to something that could be a disaster or a beauty ( maybe a waterfall or Hurricane)
9.A found poem is an exercise in taking words already created, and erasing them ( examplehere) Take a speech, song lyrics or story and create your own found poem. (Ex. Turn a Trump speech into a found love poem about diversity)
10.Write a poem about opposites attracting one another. What happens when these oppositions are forced to collaborate?( For example, Oil and water do not mix, but they usually have to when you need to cook pasta)
11.Watch the poem “Black Girl Magic,” by Mahogany Browne. Write a poem about “Black Girl Magic,” or “Black Boy Joy,” or any poem that celebrates being in your skin and the happiness that comes with it.
12.Take a walk outside. Choose 5-10 items that stand out. Write a poem using those items.
13.Easter is a holiday in which ( at least for the kids) eggs are hidden for them to find. Write a poem and hide an emotion or feeling within the poem. A great reminder is the poem “Macaroni and Cheese” by Rasheed Copeland
14.Title a poem based on where you were born, write a poem not about the area, but about an emotion or memory about that area.
15.Look back at an old post you put on facebook ( or Myspace if you’re that old) something you regret. Write a letter to the age you were when you wrote the post. Tell it what you’ve learned.
16.Write a poem as if you are a season to the rest of the seasons. What do you want them to know? What do you love about them? Hate about them? What makes being related to them so difficult? When do you take vacations?
17.Go back outside ( yes, it's the season to go outside when it's not raining) find an object or thing that stands out the most to you. Title your poem after that object. Ex. The wet Park Bench) think about what the object may feel like that is often overlooked.
18.Who is that person you have not forgiven? Write a letter to that person where you state the reasons why you cannot forgive and forget. Let that letter then interact with nature ( ex. Burn it, drown it until the water fades away, hide it at a beach)
19.Go back to childhood. Take a memory that you look at fondly, speak to why you think that memory still stays with you to this day.
20.Write a poem starting with the following words: “ Yesterday taught me…”
