April is National Poetry Month, which I love because I love themes and “holidays” and celebrations of the literary persuasion, especially those that help me with library and creative writing lesson plans. I love a month to push myself to read more poetry, because I have a growing collection I dip in and out of, but need to dip into more.

And also, I like writing poetry, even though I fear my skill level is stuck at “emo high schooler”, despite taking (and loving – and passing) a poetry workshop in college. I have a notebook dedicated to poems, and I was writing in it fairly regularly last month, until everything kind of fell apart and my brain turned to mush.

One of our prompt for Creative Writing Club last week was inspired both by National Poetry Month and the safer at home directive: Write a poem about how you feel being stuck in your house. (It had been raining every day by this point, so we were pretty much stuck inside.) Use emotion words so we can feel what you feel. As always, I participate along with them.

Without further ado, my Safer At Home Emotion Poem, to inspire a love of National Poetry Month in you all:

No commute, no traffic,
no business casual pants, no jacket.
Not going to school today,
but I can’t stay home and play.
Gotta work from the kitchen table
and teach my kid, if I’m able.