Stefani, our host for the 29th day of VerseLove 2025,, is an Associate Professor of Education at Aquinas College in Michigan. You can read her full prompt here.
She writes, “Poem titles are not discussed, practiced, or modified as often as the art of crafting a poem. Therefore, I wanted to remind us again about the power of titles and how they have the potential to hold the hand of the poem and lead it to new interpretations.”
Today, Stefani invites us to create a title centered on identifying or twisting the content, theme, or purpose of a poem. She suggested letting other readers offer a title for our poems today, so here is mine, awaiting a title.
Alexis Ennis is a 6th grade technology teacher who calls herself a “bookdragon” because of her voracious appetite to read and hoard all the books. She is our host for the 27th day of VerseLove2025, inspiring us to write odes today. You can read her full prompt here.
Our host for Day 17 of VerseLove 2025 at http://www.ethicalela.com is Angie Braaten, who inspires us with a poetry prompt to use Google search phrases to create a poem. You can read her full prompt here.
Dr. Sarah J. Donovan is the founder of Ethical ELA, a community for teacher-writers, and a 2024 Fellow for the Genocide Education Project. A former middle school English teacher and author, she advocates for humanizing literacy practices, genocide education, and poetry as witness. Her work bridges pedagogy, justice, and storytelling.
Sarah inspires us to write poems in recognition of the past and in celebration of the Armenian people, their voices, and their enduring culture. You can read her full prompt here. I’m sharing a celebration pantoum.
Today’s host at http://www.ethicalela.com for the 10th day of #VerseLove2025 is Joanne Emery, who inspires us to look closely at something in nature and write a poem about it. You can read her full prompt here.
I was on my way to Mississippi on Tuesday when I stopped for a memory card and noticed a huge mural proclaiming Greenville as Alabama’s Camellia City. I stopped and looked. I hadn’t thought of camellias in a long time, but my mother had loved them so much. It felt like a hello from Heaven.
Our host for the 9th day of #VerseLove2025 is Britt Decker of Houston, Texas, who inspires us to write. a poem about who we were at various times in our lives. You can read her full prompt here. Maybe you’ll come write with us today! I’ve chosen a list poem for today’s poem.
Depending on when you met me, you would have known
I was a wild preacher’s kid running amok with a
cast of characters that weren’t Southern Baptists ~
that I became them in my closet with a flashlight
obsessed with the words, the characters, the places
in Childcraft Volume 1: Poems and Rhymes
the book with the gold and pink banded spine
where they lived on pages but came alive
in me ~ and stay with me still
I’m Pirate Don Durk of Dowdee
I’m a sugar plum tree at the Lollipop Sea
I’m a little turtle climbing on the rocks
I’m Wee Willie Winkie, crying through the locks
I’m a water nymph with green glass beads
I’m a goblin in the marsh, howling in the reeds
I’m Mary, Mary, quite contrary
I’m a little puffin on an island in the sea
I’m a gypsy, a gypsy, earrings in my ears
I’m a cave boy with a spear hunting prehistoric deer
Dr. Darius Phelps, our host for Day 8 of #VerseLove 2025, is the Assistant Director of Programs at the Center For Publishing, Writing, and Media at NYU. You can read his full prompt here.
He encourages us to write poems about something we carry from someone before us, or something/someone we try to imitate.
Stacey Joy, our host for Day 6 of #VerseLove 2025, is a National Board Certified Teacher, Google Certified Educator, and 2013 L.A. County Teacher of the Year. Stacey has taught elementary school for 39 years in Los Angeles Unified School District.
Today, Stacey invites us to write Where I’m From poems. She offers this process: “Visit George Ella Lyon’s website for a refresher on Where I’m From. If you are a list person, create a list of people/places/things/memories. Then compose your poem in any way you prefer. If you are more comfortable with a form, you can write your poem following a form you prefer.” You can read her full prompt here.
Today, I’m writing a Where I’m Not From poem.
I’m not from here.
I’m not from this chaos.
I won’t play these games.
I won’t clean up the mess.
I won’t sit at the table.
I won’t partake of the feast.
I won’t bow for a fake prayer (I know the difference)~
Bryan Ripley Crandall, our host for Day 5 of VerseLove 2025 at http://www.ethicalela.com, lives in Stratford, Connecticut, where he directs the Connecticut Writing Project and is Professor of English Education at Fairfield University.
Bryan offers these directions: “Write about a scar, one that may be physical in nature or one that might be more emotional.” You can read his full prompt here.
I chose a Pantoum form for this poem and made the decision to keep a staccato rhythm, as if touching a hot stove and getting burned.
Common Threads 