I know my last blog included poetry, but it’s never too soon for more poems. Plus, April is National Poetry Month. This is a month for poetry appreciation. We are encouraged to read a poem a day during April. And those who enjoy writing lyrically may even take on the challenge of writing a poem a day.

For several past Aprils, I have accepted the challenge of writing a poem for every day of the month. A writer friend of mine first posed this challenge to me several years ago. I had once challenged myself to write a poem each week for the duration of a year. I enjoyed that challenge and liked that I created 52 new poems.

My first April PAD (Poem a Day) challenge took more time out of each day than I imagined. Robert Lee Brewer helped by supplying daily prompts at this link. This is also a nice platform to share your poems. Some days I was inspired and even wrote more than one poem. But writing a poem every day was a bigger commitment than I thought. I have kept this lesson in mind. While I’ve accepted subsequent PAD challenges along with writer friends, I’ve also given myself leeway in other years to only write poetry as inspired during the month of April.

I love the idea of regularly spending some time appreciating poetry for a month. This month is as good as any, join me and others by taking out a bit of time to appreciate (and/or write) a daily poem. Here’s one I wrote:

Poetry

By Jenifer Tull-Gauger

If only I could write

Something short and striking,

Brief but biting,

To the point, pithy.

If only I could get my

Ideas across

Almost instantaneously.

Is that what poetry’s for?

©2002 by Jenifer Tull-Gauger