All Verselove Prompts
- Deibide Baise Fri Toin
- Nobody but You
- Echoes from the Past
- Sevens Up
- To Elegize or Not to Elegize?
- If Ever There were a Spring Day so Perfect
- The Brain Dump
- An Ode to the Unworthy
- Surprising Supplies
- Celebration of Yourself in All it’s Complexities
- True or False List Poem
- Zip Code Poem
- Things (Better) Left Unsaid
- Photographic Poem
- Fridays Are for Date Nights
- Alphabeticals
- Inspirational Places
- The Magic Box
- #hashtagacrostics
- Thirty Thanks
- Rewrite, Redo
- Come, Join My Reality
- Place Tells Me to Be
- Borrowed Lines
- Genetic Cinquains
- Forensic Poetry
- The Room Where it Happened
- Island Earth
- House in the Sky
- A Space to Look and Think
About #VerseLove
Why should I participate?
Write because you can. Write because it helps you see your world anew. Write because this will be a place to experiment, take risks, be brave, be silly, be poetic. Write because your writing serves others in reciprocating a poem for a poem. Write because your words will be read and will resonate with others; you literally will change a world. You will feel a renewed connection with humanity.
Who can participate?
Teachers, teacher educators, people who serve teachers and/or students, people-who-say-they’re-not-poets-but-just-might-be — essentially, everyone.
Can I receive PD hours for participating?
Check with your school or district to see if participation in Verselove will count toward your recertification; note that each state has different rules for certification processes, so be sure to check documentation
requirements prior participation. If you’d like to track your participation, you may use this PD tracker. Send it to Sarah at the end of the month, and she will send you a participation certificate. sarah.j.donovan@okstate.edu.
How does it work?
During the month of April, people who have participated in past #Verseloves or Open Writes on Ethical ELA post a poem inspiration (i.e., a prompt) each day to inspire you to write. The prompts are developed to inspire a range of poetic forms and thinking drawing on inclusive-affirming poetic identities. We will share with you some of our favorite poems and poets as mentor texts.
- A new prompt will be posted every morning at 5:00 AM (CST) on ethicalela.com.
- Read the prompt, process for getting started, and mentor poem any time throughout the day that serves your schedule — some people write early in the morning, some during lunch or plan, some late at night.
- Then, scroll to the comment section to either write or read other poems before you write. You can write directly into the comment box, but you cannot edit after you post. (This is fine; we all know about drafting typos.) Some people write on paper then transfer it to the comment box; others keep a separate document with poems and then copy-paste. Do what works for you. Note: The poem does NOT have to follow the prompt, and there are no rules about the length, form, rhyme, or topic. In fact, it can feel quite liberating to reject the prompt sometimes and write something different.
- Post your poem in the comment section sometime before midnight.
- Throughout the day,
- reply to three or more poems with encouragement and/or praise. If you do not write replies that day, people may not see them as we are typically on to the next day. See this guide for ways to reply. Replying is perhaps the most important part of Verselove.
- read responses to your poem; they will all be very kind and affirming– we promise.
What can I write about?
The prompt may guide you to choose a topic, but what you write is really up to you. Consider what will serve you and nurture you. Take care of yourself. Also, be mindful of your readers and the ways your words will serve (or perhaps harm) others. You may consider a content guidance note if you find that the poem takes you toward trauma or a painful memory.
How, exactly, am I supposed to write a poem a day? I am so busy.
This is Sarah’s eighth year and Ethical ELA’s fifth year. It feels like a miracle that someone can muster a poem a day for 30 days. While it is pretty miraculous, there are some strategies that we will share throughout the month, but below are a couple videos of Sarah writing a poem. She/I set a timer for 10 minutes and post whatever I can craft in that time.
Do I have to assign these prompts to my students?
We hope you will use the poetry ideas in your classroom to inspire your students to write, but this poem celebration/challenge is really about you. This is your space, a writing community to lift up teachers, recognizing their full humanity.
Do I have to write a poem every day?
You do not have to write every day in April to join us as you are welcome to write a poem as many or as few times as you wish; you can even just be a dedicated poet supporter by reading and responding to poems when you feel inclined.
Do I have to sign-up?
No. Just show up on Ethical ELA in the #VerseLove link and write.
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Teacher-Poet #VerseLove Testimonials
