National Poetry Month 2026

Once again, National Poetry Month is almost here, and once again I will be attempting to write a poem per day.

In Canada the theme will be LAND & SEA. From their website:

"Mother Earth began with spirit — first water, then land — alive and sacred. To walk on the land and touch her waters is an act of respect and gratitude. Every stone, stream, mountain, and drop of water is a teacher; every breeze, a messenger. We are called to listen, honour, by giving thanks through acts with care. Speaking with water and land we acknowledge its life-sustaining gifts; carrying the lessons of the past into the future through ceremony.

This National Poetry Month, the League and NWIA invite poets and readers to explore their relationship with water and land — to write, reflect, and celebrate our shared responsibilities and the sacred bonds that sustain us all."

In the United States they are celebrating their 30th year of National Poetry Month.

I hope you will join me on this year's journey -- my 12th of original poems and 16th overall -- and let me know which poems you like (or don't), and why.

   

#NaHaiWriMo 2026 - the final batch

#NaHaiWriMo - Family

All that laughing
The way we take up space
All that weeping

#NaHaiWriMo - Soap

Look at my hands

How many ways are there

To get clean

#NaHaiWriMo - Pink

Shoes, dress, eyes, nose, mouth
Fingernails, eye shadow, jewel

Underwear, tongue, skin

#NaHaiWriMo - Teeth

Whenever they break

You feel it larger than life

All those small pieces

#NaHaiWriMo - Titanic

They tried to warn me
The idea of you is so large

I can’t contain it

#NaHaiWriMo - Witch

They said all the names.

Only some of them were secret.

Only some of them.

#NaHaiWriMo - X-ray

There’s no hiding.
We can see everything.

It doesn’t matter.

#NaHaiWriMo - Lace

We weave together.

Decorate empty space.

Your hands so nimble.

*

Here we find regret.

Here we find forgiveness.

Here we find beauty.

*

You took all the swords,

Transformed them into ploughshares.

Magic takes time.

#NaHaiWriMo - Last

Despite everything
We keep collecting days

A necklace of hope