Welcome to Verselove—a space for educators to nurture their writing lives and celebrate poetry in the community. Each day in April, we come together to explore the power of poetry for both heart and mind. Write with care, for yourself and your readers. When responding, reflect back the beauty you find—lines that linger, ideas that inspire. Enjoy the journey. (Learn more here. If you’d like to host a Verselove Day in 2026, sign up here.)
Our Host
Ashley lives in Titusville, Florida where she works as a high school English teacher. She believes in learning as a partnership between teachers and students. In her free time, she enjoys relaxing with her husband, three children, and three dogs.
Inspiration
Last year during Verse Love, I felt a little bit alone. I had moved over a thousand miles away from a city I grew up in. Enter the invitation to write about a care package to kick off Verse Love. I realized it felt like a wish had been granted because writing alongside members in this community made me feel like a wish had been granted.
Today’s poem is about capturing the whimsical and wishing. Write about a wish, a hope, or a dream held that needs to be spoken into the world. Some people may think a wish spoken aloud on your birthday means it will no longer come true, but I think a wish spoken can take flight and sometimes becomes even better than once imagined.
Process
Today, in the spirit of wishing, we will write a double dactyl poem. This whimsical form of poetry is made of two quatrains.
- Line one is a pair of nonsense rhyming words
- Line two introduces the subject of the poem (often a name)
- Lines one through three and five through seven contain two dactylic metrical feet
- Lines four and eight have one dactyl plus a stressed syllable
If you need help finding stressed syllables, say the word aloud and slowly. Which part is most pronounced?
Ashley’s Poem
Wishily whimsily
Ashley dramatically
Celebrating gaudily
Gracefully aging
Secretly embracing
Bibliotherapy,
Gratefully wishing
Longing for books
Your Turn
Now, scroll to the comment section below to write your own poem. (This is a public space, so you may choose to use only your first name or initials depending on your privacy preferences.) Not ready? That’s okay. Read the poems already posted for more inspiration. Ponder your own throughout the day. Return later. And, if the prompt does not work for you, that is fine. All writing is welcome. Just write something. Oh, and a note about drafting: Since we are writing in short bursts, we all understand (and even welcome) the typos and partial poems that remind us we are human and that writing is always becoming. If you’d like to invite other teachers to write with us, tell them to subscribe. Also, please be sure to respond to at least three writers.
Ashley, I love a good metered form! Thanks for this. Too fun. I loved your poem. I hope you’re enjoying your time here on VerseLove this month — I’ve enjoyed reading your poems!
My friend and I are going to Greece three days after school lets out — my first overseas trip! Needless to say, I’m trying to trim down and buff up a bit.
Greeced Lightning!
Higgeldy piggeldy
Tummy’s been jiggly
Off to the gym-bed-dy
Trying to get slim.
Pump those weights, lift those legs
“Keep it up!” Marla nags
“Please stop now!” body begs
Push on? Get trim.
Frab-u-jous fabulous!
Body, once treasonous,
now sees a reason for
all of the pain.
June will see Greece and us
toasting the season with
Aegean breezes and
food feasts again!
Ashley,
Thank you for hosting. This was a tough one on a busy day. Your poem is fun, and I’m grateful for your mentor poem. My poem is in anticipation of our upcoming trip to Egypt, beginning with a few days in Normandy, France.
Going
Trippity zippity
Funks go adventuring
TSA line waiting
marvels abroad
Africa continent
Giza pyramid gold
a cruise down the Nile
traveling awed
Glenda Funk
4-25-25
Wow, your verse has captured the dactyl perfectly. Safe travels and hope the line waiting doesn’t become too unbearable. I am sure you will see many “awe-inspiring” sites. Jealous!
Glenda, I saw your picture with a cute cat sitting on the luggage, so I knew you are getting ready for a trip. Egypt sounds great! We may go next year. I would love a cruise down the Nile too. Your poem makes me want to go and start packing. Safe travels!
Oh, yes! Hooray for your and Ken’s latest adventure. This is so fun! I especially love your rhyming lines “marvels abroad” and “traveling awed” So lovely. Have a wonderful trip.
Whaaaat! Are you headed to Africa? Have a spectacular trip. I look forward to seeing your photos. Your double dactyl is perfect. I’m jealous. I couldn’t even think yesterday.
Glenda, too funny: I wrote about the same topic! Great job with the form here!
Dear friends,
I am so thankful for all of your wishes and whimsical musings today! What a gift your words are!
On Memorizing “The Pied Piper of Hamelin” by Robert Browning
Memorizing this 300-line poem gave me a place to rest (escape!) my oh-so-anxious thoughts about our country.
I did, in fact, memorize the 300-line poem. It took me 105 days to learn, and it takes me 26 minutes to recite. (No one to date has asked me to recite it!)
Ratsapace Hamelinplace
Gazing at Piper’s face
Longing for bits of grace
Lost in the rhyme.
Mindscatters brainclatters
Let me escape chatters–
Memorize lines of verse
Calming the universe.
Love the last line, Allison. “Calming the universe.” Phew. I wish we had that secret to share at those times in our life when we need it most.
Allison, this “longing for bits of grace” speaks volumes. The final two lines are incredibly beautiful!
I’m still so impressed by your memorizing of “The Pied Piper of Hamelin,” Allison! I love this! And I so agree with you that “Memoriz[ing] lines of verse / [calms] the universe.” I have a couple sonnets and a few soliloquies in memory, so I can absolutely attest to this truth!
Allison,
Wow! Congratulations on reaching this goal! The love of disappearing into a poem or work of art and living in it is so beautifully conveyed in your poem.
Oh my, Allison, your first line is divine! I am so awed by your talents and willingness to memorize a 300-line poem! Like what! I could use some calm and adore your poetry craft!
Wow, Allison! 26 minutes to recite!!! I’m impressed.
Yesterday, I was totally in a “mindscatter brainclatter” space!
I long for a calm universe.
Wait, back up: Robert Browning wrote a poem about the pied piper of Hamelin? How do I not know about this poem? Please recite it for me at ICTE this October.
Allison, what a feat! Kudos to you!
Loved this poem and your rationale for doing it. Now you’ve given me a new strategy to “calm the universe,” so thanks for that!
Ashley,
This one almost had me stumped today! I’ve written triplet rhymes before, but the specific stanza patterns gave me some fits! But as Spring marches on, the NBA playoffs are in full swing and my NY Knicks should have a good run. I’m speaking it into existence–the Knicks take it this year–they’re due; they haven’t won since 1973!!!
Garden Dreams
Orangey-bluishly
New York Knicks victory
J. Brunson’s wizardy
Could this be the year?
Hart rebounds,Towns resounds
Garden crowd louder than
Clyde Frazier’s apparel!
Champion season!
I love watching poems erupt from the day’s bones. Rebounds/resounds <3
Dave,
Your poem is so pure and hopeful!
Dave, hope you get the year you want! Great fan poem! Had to laugh at your second to last line!
lol. Loved “garden crowd…apparel.” Go Knicks!
Oh Ashley – at first this was hard, but then it was FUN. Even better, when I was poking around to find examples, I discovered that one of my profs in college – Anthony Hecht – is credited as an “inventor and promoter” of the form (along with Paul Pascal and John Hollander, but I don’t know them). How cool is that? Anyway, I whiled away the hours today, considering wishes, and ended up in Paris… Not bad for a Friday.
Paris
Hopplement topplement
Sixth arrondissement
Jardin du Luxembourg
St-Germain-des-Prés
Croissants and chocolat
Hyperpoetical
Cafés and galleries
Reading all day
Okay, Amanda, that is so cool that you know the inventor of the form! Also, you make me long for Paris. I love everything about your second stanza.
Amanda, this looks like you took same tour as My daughter took when went the first…for 16th birthday! What we read all day was menus trying to decide which of the sidewalk cafes we could afford after burying books at other sidewalk shops! Then back to,our rooms to read those. MERCI pour Les souvenirs.
Amanda,
This is fun! Paris is on the list of “must sees, but haven’t beens”. Croissants and chocolat is a great sounding line and yummy, too.
Amanda,
WOW! What a small world! I hope you send yours his way. I love the ode to Paris! You ignite a wish to visit these places.
Amanda,
We fly into Paris Sunday/Monday (red eye). I love your poem. Love all the features of Paris in your poem.
Amanda, it is cool to know one of your professors invented the form! Your poem is a lucky sign for me. We are going to Paris at the end of May, so I am excited for all the things you mention.
Hi Ashley. I love the prompt, but I’m pressed for time today. I’m sure my poem doesn’t follow the format, but I’m okay with that right now!
Gardening Life
By Mo Daley 4/25/25
Diggety doggety
Perennial weeds here abound
Growing fast from the ground
Everywhere I look they are around
Diggety doggety
Get yourself outta here
I want pretty flowers everywhere
I don’t care how much you want to persevere!
Mo,
Your poem uses such a chiding tone towards those pesky weeds but your acknowledgement of their strength in the line “I don’t care how much you want to persevere!” is a really interesting way to think about what is a nuisance to you.
Hot diggety, my mom always said.
Love how you’re fussing at the weeds! They are such a pain!
Unfortunately, my brain capacity was not working well with the expectations on today’s prompt. But I did not want to let myself off the hook completely. I will have to work on this form during the summer when my brains are free.
A Double Dactyl Disaster
Frimowtry Poemowtry
I can’t write no poetry
Brain on pausetry
Drafty draft, Stacey Joy
Ashley,
I think I need to see a bibliotherapist. Great prompt and I love your poem.
This made me laugh – from poemowtry to pausetry – and how lucky that Stacey Joy is dactyl-y. Hooray for drafty drafts!
I’m glad you got a laugh in. I really can’t think today. It was a busy Friday.
Stacey, we are soul sisters today! My brain is too tired to work right now. I love your drafty draft!
At least you tried. See what I did?
Stacey,
I adore the musing tone in your poem the “Drafty draft, Stacey Joy” made me chuckle because I think writers tend to and should lean into the drafty draft space often! (I actually named my dissertation proposal “drafty draft” while working on different versions, so your poem felt heartwarming to me)
Yay!!!
Stacey, these first four lines are phenomenal! I laughed at ” Brain on pausetry.” Mine takes frequent pauses too
Ashley,
thanks for hosting. Cheers to bibliotherapy!
——————————————————
tr-trill bestill
can’t get my head
around a dactyl
I have no time
to grapple with rhyme
So I’ll just say
I wished that I had not forgotten my binoculars
Then Alice Ann saved the day
with a spare pair
If you want to see 105 species
in one day
shorebirds and migrating songbirds
come to Featherfest!
First of all, Sharon, it looks like you, Stacey, and I struggled late in the day with this, but we did what we could. Also, where is Featherfest, because I want to go! I’m so happy that my son is here with me and just noticed a pileated woodpecker in our yard. Your poem made me smile.
Mo,
It’s in Galveston. I’m a beginning birder and it’s my first Featherfest and it has been amazing. Four days of birding field trips! Great location because of birds are migrating across the Gulf and because there are several different habitats.
Sharon,
I am grateful to Alice Ann for saving the day! I’ve never heard of Featherfest, but wow! What a beautiful image you have painted in these lines!
Ashley, thank you for this invitation to a new to me poetic form. And to be honest, at first glance, I thought, this isn’t me. But I tried and discovered I enjoyed the play.
fluttery buttery
Monarch remarkably
flashing colorfully
among the flowers
brightly winging
migrationally
home seekers
wings are powers
Jamie,
Love the ending:
Indeed!
Jamie,
Fluttery buttery is a great first line! And I love how you pull the rhyme into the 3rd line.
Jamie,
Your first line is so welcoming! I can picture the Monarch floating through the space and seeking a place to rest!
Ashley, I should have written about books as I am a huge proponent of bibliotherapy, but I tried to concoct a wizardly spell that sort of fell. Thanks for hosting.
Home Brews & Art
Wickety dickety
Concoctions created
Erasing silently
Poisonous pompous oafs
Quietly applauding
Triumphant tapestries
Gracefully parading
Magnificent peacock quills
Barb Edler
25 April 2025
Oh, wow. Those final lines in each stanza are ones to sit up and take notice of. “Poisonous pompous oafs” Yes, let’s erase these. The title is intriguing too!
I love your intention of concocting spells. Please write a VerseLove prompt inviting us to cast spells!
Barb,
Your poem is both whimsical and extremely deep. The wish to create something to rid us of oafs and remind us of “magnificent peacock quills,” I found myself nodding along and wishing with you. Beautiful work
Barb,
Im smiling at your poem. I’m here for “dickety” in all its subversive meaning. And “Poisonous pompous oafs” has me thinking. I can imagine some in my orbit. Your last line is so beautiful, which is how I think of your writing.
Ashley! Wow! You challenged me in a way I hadn’t been challenged in a while. I had to read and read and read to figure out the double dactyl. I am 100% sure I am 100% incorrect, but I had fun while trying. I loved this challenge and have set a life goal to figure out exactly what it is I’m supposed to be doing. In the meantime, it’s Friday. So here’s to all of us after a while and wonderful week.
Didactically Doodling (while looking for a Midnight Snack)
i.
Factual snack, y’all,
Pterodactyl track made small
Brontosaurus pack be tall
A Ritz-cracker protocol.
insomniac, wishing away cholesteral
his midnight wingback, such-a goofball,
got side-tracked like a neanderthal!
(he’s wonky quack, after all)
ii.
midnight snacking,
butterfinger biting,
popcorn popping,
ice-cream smacking
chex-mix chomping,
pretzel waltzing,
triscuit tasking,
moose-munch munching
iii.
double-dactyl, pterodactyl
syllabic silly, foot-face fictional
multi-metric dribble-drubble
double-dosed, ribble-rabble…
numb-skulled, skunk-like, silly stressed,
imbecilic messy-mess,
moving with dactylic ducks
poetically I’m out of @#$!s.
oh my goodness! I am dying with laughter and at once overcome by how such a “challenge” really riled this group up and created the best kind of community- a community of grace and support. I am a sucker for poems with dinosaurs too!
This is super fun and must have felt impossible to write. Nice work and go eat the snack
That. last. line. It brings the house down! You crack me up….what a masterpiece of a dactyl today.
Haha! I love the title. It helps us see what you were doing while having fun with the double dactyl. I laughed aloud at “100% sure I am 100% incorrect.” Me too. What a lot of rules, but look at the magic that came. Your snacking section made me hungry and want to go dig in my cupboard, and the iii stanza had me in stitches, especially that last line!
I just laughed so loudly that my spouse came in to see what on earth was going on. Oh – this is everything. Thank you for making my Friday evening amazing.
Bryan,
I haven’t gotten down to writing yet, but all day, the only thing that popped into my head is Homeboy Sandman’s excellent album Actual Factual Pterodactyl and, somehow, you’ve managed to manifest it in your zany and infectuous poem!
I love the ode to snacking–a favorite pastime! The line “insomniac, wishing away cholesterol” made me smile because somehow those snacks seem lighter under the cover of night!
Your snacking stanzas are waaaay better than mine were. I love how the whole thing speeds up in the final stanzas.
Boogedy woogedy
Susan is dancing
certainly this is a first.
To hop on one leg
a mystery but not the worst
trickery. A victory?
How long she can do it?
Honestly I wouldn’t try.
Don’t think I followed the rules but I had a f un time. Thank Ashley for introducing me to dactyl.
Oh, Susan, I had to laugh at “certainly this is a first”. Your final lines show so much! Fun poem!
Susan, so playful and fun. I love the rhythm you created, like in “trickery. A victory?” So sweet!
Oh, but you should try. I loved this…I bet you can go forever!
Susan,
Your poem brought a smile to my face! The advice in the last line highlights the cost of the victory in hopping on one leg!
I found inspiration on my kitchen table this morning (see photo) and decided to have a little fun with this poem. The syllabification definitely provided a challenge. (I should add that the items in the photo were left that way by my mom, and I simply found them that way.)
Itchiness? Witchiness!
Recipe substitute
Take out the sausages
Try a new meat
Medical cure-it-all
Tastiness in a dish
Mother dear, mercifully
Rid us of fleas
I like the rhythm. I don’t have a dog so it took me a couple of reads to figure out the fleas. Funny.
Hahah this is great, I loved it. Nice job!
Cheri, there’s something about “Take out the sausages
Try a new meat” that just makes me laugh! I love the photo that accompanies your poem. The fee part makes far more sense. Fun!
I’m with Barb here – those lines made me giggle – and the photo made it even better. So much fun.
Oh, good luck with the fleas! Such a fun poem and it tells a story too. I hope your mom sticks with the sausage in the recipe. So funny.
Cheri-
That last line made me laugh hard! The photo is pretty absurdist and the poem does it justice!
Oof. Only once did I have a dog that brought home fleas. I didn’t think I’d ever survive that and it seems like a perfect source for a dactyl. Good for you, friend!
Cheri,
The beginning of your poem made me chuckle because those little guys really do feel supernatural with how hard they are to see!
Hi Ashley ~ thanks for hosting today! I embrace your bibliotherapy! I also confess that while I can easily count syllables, I run into trouble throwing stresses into the mix…but whether or not I followed the rules, your prompt coaxed me out of my somber mood…
Bumbily, tumbily
morning come rumbily
wake up! wake up! start the day,
eyes open grumphily,
close again humphily,
leave me alone, let me stay—
but birds chirp cheerily (and so endearingily)
I throw off the covers ~ HOORAY!
Oh, you had me all the way through. Until the end. lol I don’t know if I ever throw off the covers that way. I like your creative adverbs!
Well Cheri that last line might have been more than a bit of poetic license
Ann, you’ve captured the perfect poem here! I love the sounds you’ve incorporated along with the shifting moods! Delightful poem!
Ann, this sounds so fun! I’m liking the poems I’m reading today, whether or not they follow the many rules of the DD. I love the light-hearted mood, and how writing this helped. Love all the “ily” words that make it fun to read aloud.
Ann, I enjoyed reading your words, your rhythm carried me through the lines. The rhymes in the first stanza helped with that – bumbily, tumbily, grumphily – totally accepting that these aren’t real words. And in the 2nd stanza I like the end rhyme in the 2nd and 4th lines. You created music!
Ann,
yes, hooray for the birds!
Love grumphily/humphily.
HOORAY! That is the celebration of the day. Hooray! Hooray! Hooray. The birds are really loving life right now (and so are the bees)!
Ann,
Your poem captures the whimsy and the frustrations of having to depart bed as a non-morning person! I love the nod to the birds and the final moment of leaving the bed!
doubly baffled by dactyl
ubbiti bubbiti
Maureeni fumblini
inventing, cackling
poetic dactyl?
playfully puzz-aling
discombobulating
find right words, find write words
poetry retreats…
Yes! I laughed and cussed during my own competition. Did I think about only using cuss words and realized I am not talented enough? You did such a great job. I love your last line. I, too, am about to retreat!
I completely understand the “poetry retreats…” Your title says it all!
Haha! This is so great! “Maureeni fumblini” is a great way make up new dactyl words. I love the sound of this. Your last lines of each stanza beginning with poetic/poetry is a great touch. I also love, love discombobulating, which is a perfect word to describe writing a double dactyl.
Maureen,
Playful and relatable!
Love the ending:
find right words, find write words
Maureen,
That first stanza is so much fun! “Maureeni Fumblini” is great!
Maureen,
I always enjoy reading your work! The lines “find right words, find write words/poetry retreats” made me smile because many days I find myself so challenged and baffled by the different ideas, but the challenge and journey is so refreshing!
Well, that took a good couple of hours and a call to my editor. Haha! Somehow, tequila showed up in the poem, and I don’t care if it’s dactyl – it was/is needed- maybe now!
mmmmmhmmm
nipsily sipsily
tequila traveler
freckily ecstasy
breezily buzz
strawberry waterfalls
sunflower summertime
firefly fantasy
lemony laze
hahaha I love this so very much – your intro expressed the same mystification I felt…and that “nipsily sipsily” is so darn good…”freckily ecstasy,” too. So so fun to read your poem!
They could all be cocktail names, no doubt. Love the alliteration too.
Kasey, I’m definitely getting a tasty vibe from your poem. Sure do love the “breezily buzz” and “lemony laze”. Delicious poem!
Oh Kasey, now there are some rich wishes! I love the images you’ve created in such a few lines. “strawberry waterfalls” is a favorite.
Kasey, I honestly think the tequila makes it. freckily ecstasy, breezily buss, strawberry waterfalls to lemony laze makes me want to go and pour a shot to see what I find.
So many flavours of fun in this poem – and the tequila was definitely needed!
Kasey,
Cheers to your poem and the beautiful summer elements you bring in it!
Ashley,
Your poem is so sweet. I love the “gracefully aging” and the quiet wish for bibliotherapy. “Longing for books” is a great last line. And then, when I looked into the double dactyl–
Oh, my goodness. What a devil of a form that is. I have no idea if my feet are on properly. I wrote about my wish to learn Spanish, lately I’m realizing I need to adjust my wish, since no magic seems to happen with my mastery. Thank you for the challenge and for hosting today.
Bibbily Babbily
Language Denise is on
Her way to master…nah…
Wish enormous!
Nominal seeking is
nonexistentially
hopeful, and yet I try:
Wish simplify!
I feel an odd kinship with these words as I just struggled through the form. You did a great job! Now- off to other pursuits! Thank you so much for sharing!
Love your intro line, “I have no idea if my feet are on properly. ” – hahaha! Yes, this form made me feel upside down. “Bibbily Babbily” is phenomenal wish words for speaking a foreign language – I see a magic wand in your hand. Love the “wish enormous!” and its mirror in the second stanza “wish simplify!”
Bonus points if you write it in Spanish. This was hard! Like learning a new language! Nice work!
Denise, I know your heart’s desire is to master Spanish, so your poem makes perfect sense. Loved your choice of silly rhyming words and of course believe your efforts in “hopeful, and yet I try:” Fantastic response to today’s prompt!
Denise,
The beginning of your poem reflects those initial experiences with language–we really are “bibbily babbily” at first!
Denise,
You’re killing it w/ the language acquisition. You’re an inspiration.
Ashley, Delighted that you’re finding this space and welcome place to be. It’s been that for many of us for about ten years now. So, some long timers may recognize this poem.
My wish today is for time to take this walk that I wrote about in response to another writing prompt. Here it is. Walk with me…
The Evening Walk
Our walk begins on a smooth, flat sidewalk.
At the street corners is the gentle step-up,
step down.
We discuss the day’s events
at a leisurely pace.
We turn the corner and begin the gentle incline;
No problem here.
The heartbeat is regular A slight glow shines
on our cheeks and foreheads.
Feet move along at a brisk pace.
Incline steepens – approaching the first hill No problem.
Heartbeat speeds up.
Perspiration beads gather.
Conversation slows down a bit.
Legs warm to the rhythm of the walk.
Final ascent of major hill Problem.
Heartbeat visible through tee-shirt Sweat streams.
Conversation gasps.
Calves groan. Thighs burn.
Street sign, “500 feet to dead end”
seems prophetic.
The sidewalk levels now and heart beat
slows down a bit
We pause a moment
to wipe the moisture from faces.
We turn
And
Are speechless at the sight.
We are amazed
by the panoramic view of San Diego From Miramar to Coronado!
The view unfolds in layers of colors
First the red tile roofs of houses
Grey-green tops of eucalyptus trees
Brown green spread of the
Naval air station
Warm glowy-yellow of city lights sprinkled above
Then the blue-black expanse of the night sky.
Moving east-to-west, airplanes approach Lindbergh Field.
Their twinkling red lights converge from separate legs
To the apex of a capital “A” lying on its side.
Arrayed above this,
on the uppermost layer are
The constellations in all their splendor.
Everything is illuminated
by the glimmer-shimmer of the moon.
Rejuvenated,
We return home walking slowly down the hill,
Revitalized
By the physical exertion of the steep climb,
Relaxed
After the elation of the view from the top.
wow! Where to begin? Can you teach me your metrical ways? This poem is stunning in composition and subject. I love that it takes me along with you. Genius!
Absolutely beautiful description of a gorgeous walk – love the “R” words of the final stanza, love the look of this:
I slowed my reading to pause alongside you!
Anna,
Thank you for bringing me along your walk! The view from the top came to life with all of your sensory details.
Ashley, you are pushing me into new territory– in a fun way. Thanks!
I am certain I did not get the rhythm right on a Friday of a LONG week, but I tried.
What else ya got?
Snackily smackily
Sheila is hungry
Jellybeans await from Easter
What else might I eat?
Ice cream cones have I none
Chocolate chip cookies- also none
Jellybeans must do.
Perhaps a care package might come?
I love this! It’s hilarious and so relatable. I hope you had both jellybeans and something a bit more nourishing!
“What else might I eat?” – been there, done that, know this feeling all to well. Love the nonsense lines, “snackily smackily” – fun, fun, fun!
I was also really hungry today, this is a fun taste! Challenging form, nice work!
Sheila,
I can sense the longing and wish in your poem! It holds such a relatable problem of wanting something but not having the thing or the energy to go find it!
Ashley, thank you for this fun little format. Perfect for my personal day off.
Personal, smersonal
Day off is wonderful
Lunch with my better half
Errands are done
Time to watch baseball
And root for my Phillies
Hope for a win today
Making my day
I had a lunch date with my husband on Tuesday. It’s rare when that happens.
Thank you for writing today.
Oh, a day off would be bliss . . . I’m glad you are enjoying yours.
Absolutely delightful!!
Nice! Love the first line; sounds just like a teasing kid on your day off!
Rita,
Your poem has so many experiences in it that it shows how busy your personal day was! It almost seems like you need a day of rest after all of this buzzing activity. I hope your team won!
Ashley, what a fun writing project for today. I’m not even sure if I got it right, but I like that I tried. And I like what came out of it.
So…my poem is not really a wish, but I want to revisit that idea of writing a wish into a poem out there “to be manifested”. However, I recently got some pictures from a friend and I was really touched by it and thought at some point this month I need to write about it as a keepsake memory. Here’s what I came up with.
Here’s Some Flowers
By Amber Harrison
Droppity, proppity
Jody sent: flowers four.
Purple one. Yellow one.
Little, lil’ lantern buds.
Whities set–five of them.
Far away, working hard,
sent he them, via dm.
Photographs: captured he.
Sweet surprise: captured me.
I just realized I did the wrong number of dactylic metrical feet for lines 4-8. Maybe I will revise and revisit here with my revisions. re, re, re vi, vi vi
Here is a revision…I like both of them…and still don’t know if I did the syllables correctly. But, what a fun way to capture this moment for myself.
Here’s Some Flowers
By Amber Harrison
Droppity, proppity
Jody sent: flowers four.
Purple one. Yellow one.
Little, lil’ lantern buds.
Whities set–five of them.
Photographs shot,
sent by dm;
sweet surprises
given with dreams.
This is great! I especially like your ending lines.
Thanks, Amber. There’s something really fun about “droppity proppity”– it’s fun to say.
This was so cute! I love the last two lines and rhymes. Thanks for sharing.
Amber,
Your poem surprised me at the end with the photographs being sent to you and the last line “Sweet surprise: captured me” is such a beautiful way to capture how much it meant to you!
Boom-sicle bop-sicle
Cherry red popsicle
Sparkling new bicycle
Swimming pool toys
Tops off convertibles
Cookouts and carnivals
Parades and festivals
Summertime Joys
Julie! This has me so excited for summer wishes to come true! I really like the rhyming going on with “sicle” and “ible/ivals”…this makes me want to just bounce and get to it!
Julie, your poem has all the summer feels. It makes me want to start counting down to the end of the school year. The rhythm is great, and I can picture some little kids chanting this as they skip around the yard.
This has a fun rhythm– it almost feels like a jumprope rhyme.
I love, love, love your first two lines! Hooray for summertime joys!
This has a wonderful rhythm to it, and those “sicle”s provide the perfect staccato to start a poem of summer lovelies.
Oh I can feel the anticipation of summer. Can’t wait for a cherry red popsicle.
This is perfectly summery, I love it!!!!
Julie, I love the way your words bounce from one idea to another. popsicle to bicycle to pool toys. I do follow the connection. Your second stanza hones in on summer items, events. You make me want to play with language like that. Thanks!
Oh my goodness! You did it! This is definitely a double dactyl and – wow! – you nailed the imagery. Now I want summer to arrive immediately with all the things you’ve crammed into these eight summery lines!
Julie,
This is absolutely delightful! It is a whimsical ode to summer time and all of the fun waiting for us!
This was such a fun form, Ashley. Thanks for the inspiration to write while I’m home with my three sick kids.
Sick Day
Snuggily, wuggily
Mama is next to me
Holding on desperately
Loving me gracefully
Me puking daintily
Puke bucket graciously
Accepting my retching
Longing for health
Ohh, Chea . . . not a fun day, but you managed to create a very fun poem. “Me puking daintily” is making me smile. (Is it possible to puke daintily?)
I thought the juxtaposition was fun. The poem is actually from the perspective of my kids who are all three sick today, and they’re dainty, which is where that came from. lol
Oh, poor thing. Being sick is n fun at all. You described it perfectly here, though. (How does one puke daintily, though? that’s impressive!)
It hasn’t hit me yet. I’m the Mama in the poem. I liked the juxtaposition of the violence and the slight and dainty bodies of my children.
Oh how sad. But such good word choices!! Thanks for sharing and feel better soon!
Chea,
Being sick and taking care of sick kids is so rough. You made a rather bleak situation have beauty. The first part sounds like your kids and the second sounds like when the illness has passed to you. Well wishes to all of you!
“Snuggily, wuggily” sounds like the perfect prescription for sick children. I hope they’re on the mend soon, Chea!
Hi Ashley, I’m glad Verselove was just what you needed last year. Thanks for hosting us with a double dactyl. I know my meter is not correct but oh well. One day I might do it correct, not today!
Writerly plighterly
Meaning me not AI
I could ask a bot but
I’d really rather not
I got plenty enough
Variability
In my mind, keep your droid
I want genuine thought
Yes! I want genuine thought, too! And well played on using variability! I want to level up and try a double-dactyl word next time, too!
Angie, I love your resolve in the message and your rhyming here is so good! You “got plenty enough / Variability” – excellent! Thank you for your genuine thoughts!
I really doubt AI could produce that! That was beautiful in a whimsical silly way. Thanks for sharing!
Angie,
Part of the fun of guidelines is knowing when to bend and play with them! I love the message behind your work and it does have a beautiful resilience of keeping your own thoughts n a world full of shortcuts.
My god this was hard. But kept my brain occupied during state testing early this morning.
not perfect. But a wish that’s on my mind after routine blood work puts me still in the clear.
a PKD wish
Cystally Kid-a-ney!
Daddy’s nephrologist
says that thirty is the
magical age:
Chances of dominant
heritability
lower. Now wishes for
Brother (and Sister) engage.
Glad you got positive news! “Thirty is the / magical age” is quite whimsical for this type of poem!
C.O. “that thirty is the/magical age:” show so much considering your topic today. Hope you will continue to be blessed and glad you had something fun to preoccupy yourself during the blankety blank state testing!
C.O., I love the magic you did with that first line, forcing that word kidney to be a dactyl. Here’s to a clear report! And l hope the best for your brother and sister too. Well done!
C.O.,
This is so powerful! I am glad you had positive news and I hope the same occurs for your siblings.
Thank you for this prompt! It reminds me of the poem “Hogamus Higamus/ men are polygamous/ Higamus Hogamus/ women, monogamous.”
Snilingly, sparkingly,
diva queen courts her fame,
engaging her minions
who obey her whims.
Managing classrooms when
diva holds court again
frustrates this teacher
who’s watching the date.
Sniling = a snarky smile.
Kelley, this is fun! I really like
“engaging her minions
who obey her whims.”
yes!
Kelley, I think I may have one of those divas in my classroom this year! Minions for sure.
I’ve learned a new word – – sniling – – I think it’s that smile in the fairy tales where the villains happen on the scene and create the toxicity and feel drunk with the happiness of it all.
Kelley,
Oh my, how you have captured the secondary classroom! Or perhaps that is my projection onto the poem, but I found myself nodding with “diva holds court again/frustrates this teacher”
Poetry for Pterodactyls
blessedly expressive
wonderful poetry
promises fabulous
vulnerability – not
typical jealousies
(involuntarily
sentimentality)
environmentally sound
___________________________________________
Ashley, thank you for this prompt and your mentor poem! I’m also a fan of “bibliotherapy”! For my offering….I have no idea, lol…Although I have found that pterodactyl poetry can be seriously maudlin at times. They keep bemoaning the fact that people believe they are actually flying dinosaurs when, in fact, they’re really flying reptiles who happened to live at the same time as dinosaurs. They’re very touchy about the subject!
Haha your commentary is as interesting as the poem! I didn’t even connect this type of poem with a pterodactyl! Clever you!
This made me giggle over my lunch
Scott,
Your poem is so fascinating! I love how much I learn from this community. The poem really conveys a sweet and snarky tone.
Weight of Her Worlds
tautily crakily
Sarah flips gentily
her heavy head back
stretching platysmal bands
cords sing relief
heaviness lifted
curiosities rested
snapping back bands
_________________________________________________
Thanks, Ashley, for this form. I wrote a close-enough form, and then, since I am playing with AI a bit, asked it to check my form and revise my poem. I like mine better, but I thought I would share this.
Crackily-backily
Sarah J. Donovan
Tilts her tense neck to the
sky with a sigh.
Uncompromisingly
platysmal tendons hum,
decompressioning,
bands realign.
How this fits:
Ooo I like the word “platysmal”. I don’t think I could have told you where that is on the body without your poem’s imagery! Very nice. My neck had been cracking these days but it feels so good.
Sarah! I definitely prefer yours over the Ai. I like your checklist, too. Thank you for sharing your poem AND your process.
Sarah, I like your more too. I don’t know if AI can say something as cordial and soulful as you:
“cords sing relief
heaviness lifted
curiosities rested”
This is simply beautiful.
Definitely feels like relief, these bands and relief in the neck and back. I need a realignment and a better pillow……..Like how you checked the boxes at the end for how it works.
Sarah, yes, your creativity is far more brilliant than the AI version. Loved “heaviness lifted/curiosities rested”
Sarah,
The juxtaposition between the two poems is so striking! Like you, I prefer your voice! The AI did make an interesting word, but your imagery really comes to life!
Pondering
Higgledy piggledy
Jenny confoundedly
misunderstandingly
wishfully wondered.
Mystery detected
challening innocence
liberty corruption
curiosity shuttered.
©️Jennifer Kowaczek April 2025
Ashley, I thank you for giving us today prompt (and challenge). This is my first attempt at a Double Dactyl poem; while I went into this with a plan, I was quickly derailed as I asked ChatGPT to give me some dactyl words. My end result is not really a wish, but I think it came out okay. I WILL revisit this prompt at a later date and try for something more “wish” related.
I love the sound and idea of
“misunderstandingly
wishfully wondered”
“curiosity shuttered” doesn’t sound like a good idea but it’s powerful to think about!
Oh, I hate when that curiosity gets shattered with what we weren’t expecting……I hope it turns back into more hopeful curiosity again.
Jennifer,
Sometimes wishes can take their own form. I think “challenging innocence/liberty corruption/curiosity shuttered” can show a longing for accountability.
Ashley – this is a whole new landscape for me. I’ll do my best – but I really wish I could just take yours! I’ve been reading Jen Hadfield’s Storm Pegs and can’t believe someone can write like that! Highly recommend it!
Huffily-puffily
Joanne gladfully
Reaches the top step
And doesn’t tumble down
Grumply-frumply
She sits down carefully
Soft green chair waiting
In the corner of the room
This poem feels so cozy to me. Maybe it is the labor of climbing stairs or the relief of a safe arrival at the top, or the way the green chair embraces. Love it all.
Now this I relate too. I get huffily puffily and being grateful when I don’t fall down the stairs. Really well said. I love grumply and frumply. Such fun words and full of connotations.
Hee! Joanne, I felt this today as I am packing up to go on a trip and grumpy from going up and down my basement stairs for supplies. I took a rest on my couch.
I’m there with you, Joanne – – so happy not to tumble down when it was bound to happen and didn’t. Miracles everywhere, tiny ones we never see……like chairs waiting, out of the way, to give us the peace and moments of prayerful thanks.
Joanne,
Your work reminds me of the moment of relaxation at the end of a long day! What a lovely ending!
Ashley, thank you for the prompt. Your wish for bibliotherapy resonates with me. I use it to restore my balance daily. I like counting syllables and fitting the metric patterns. Sometimes, they may be tricky, but this morning I had fun. I wrote a bunch, but this wanted to share this one. I also tried to get away from the reality and just play with words.
A Tech-tastrophe
Zappity-chattity
Lilly experimentally
Asked her Alexa for
Weather on Mars
Promptily-confident
Misunderstandingly
It blasted playlists from
Orion and Friends
Grumpily-jumpily
Lilly resentfully
Crossed both her arms:
“That’s not what I asked!”
Clinkety-blinkety
Alexa responded with:
“Playing more hits from the
Galaxy charts.”
Very cool, Leilya! Your nonsense words add so much music!
Ahh!! This is so fun, Leilya! Love the title!! And it’s always a laugh when Alexa misunderstands!
So fun, and a great commentary on an AI gone wrong or falling short, again. I think this would be a great poem prompt!
This is a great waltz through space. I can see Alexa’s confidence with no apologies.
Leilya! Oh, how I loved this. It has the fun rhythm and storytelling of a limerick and the truth of whatever the heck Alexa does whenever she wants. The nonsense words added to both the fun and chaos that ensues. This is so, so good!
ooh what a showstopper here! I cracked up at
Lilly experimentally
Asked her Alexa for
Weather on Mars
and to think it will get more hits from the Galaxy charts is just delightful! This one is a real keeper. Enjoyed every stanza.
Leilya, Love your title! Your poem illustrates the floundering one can encounter with Alexa! Very fun poem.
Oh, Leilya, you are a double dactyl storyteller! Such fun here! And I do love the first lines of each stanza that just make it fun to read.
Leilya,
You captured so many emotions people feel when dealing with AI! The musing that can lead to an enjoyable or perplexing exchange to the frustrating moments when it goes awry.
Leilya,
And this is why I don’t do Alexa. Besides, I read somewhere that that bitch spies, and I’m not having g any of that big sister nonsense. I did LOL at “Asked her Alexa for
Weather on Mars,” and what follows is priceless. This needs to be published somewhere. It’s perfect.
Ashley, thank you for bringing this fun prompt to us on a Friday. I actually have a guest speaker coming to my class (pre-service educators) today to discuss bibliotherapy and play therapy! I’ll try to return with a poem later today.
Stefani,
I hope the class went well! That sounds like an amazing lesson for them to learn.
Ashley, this is the kind of poem form that I could puzzle over all day. Yesterday I started the long process of cleaning out my classroom for retirement. That task is on my mind.
Higgledy-piggledy
Filefuls of gibberish
Fill up her trash bin with
Piles of old news
Secretly covering
Years of her mothering
Spilling soft mutterings
long overdue.
Margaret, this is just perfect! As a compulsive organizer (I was just cleaning through English files yesterday), not quite to retirement but catching moments of what’s to come, I can completely relate to the gibberish (Ha!), old news, and overflowing trash bins, all while softly muttering. I like the contrast between the craziness of the first stanza and the mellowing softness of the second.
Margaret, I can relate to gibberish and “soft mutterings” every time I attempt to clean out the file cabinet at home or on campus. I can’t decide what to discard–want to keep it all and try to reason with myself with all kinds of what ifs.
Margaret – this is perfect! I especially love your 2nd stanza. I am trying to keep teaching 4 more years to make an even 50 – but I’m not sure I can do it. And each year, I’ve been giving books away from my office because I have so many – and I still have so many!
Margaret, the “piles of old news” was unexpected but perfect here. Gosh, thinking about the last time I held a newspaper. The second stanza is moving my heart in listening for the mutterings.
Margaret, I just love the sound of your second stanza, those Ss and Ms building a rhythm to the hard syllable of your last line. And I do not envy your “long process of cleaning out [your] classroom for retirement.” A (teaching) life well-lived accumulates a lot of stuff!
Ooooh, this all makes so much sense, even the nonsense words, and the rhyme scheme is so clever. Years of mothering now shift to grandmothering – – with a dessert of more time for writing and doing exactly what you want to do.
Margaret,
Congratulations on your retirement! When you wrote “Years of her mothering/Spilling soft mutterings” it made me think of the investment put into your students not just the academic ones but the love and care as well.
Ashley, thank you for helping me work the wiggles out this morning. I needed this room to move around with words and have some fun. I think this is the first time I’ve ever written a dactyl. I feel a lot like that video where the lady is doing those lunging step exercises and her Great Dane decides to do them too in his own very awkward way, following her up, down, lunge, up, down, lunge, not having a clue what he is doing but wanting to be part of the fun. I am that dog with this dactyl. I love your dactyl – – anything that brings out the Bibliophiles is where I want to be! Thank you for hosting us today!
Campground Dreams
Aucta Schmaucta
Kimberly wishingly
camping glampingly
marsmallowly mellowing
happily hammocking
camping and coffeeing
secretly harboring
Willowy dreams
Work your wiggles out! ha! Love the whole glamping idea….oh, I’m wishing myself right to summer with this.
Kim, I’m not even much of a camper and this sounds so appealing (glamping I could probably handle and even enjoy a bit), especially the secret harboring of willowy dreams. i feel soothed and at peace imagining myself in the hammock. I love the marshmallow line (sooo oozy and gooey).
Kim, so many delicious words in your poem this morning. I would love to share with you this camping trip with marshmellow mellowing, hammocking, coffeeing, and thinking of willowy dreams. Love to see you make up all these cozy words!
Kim – I love “willowy dreams!” Your poem makes me so happy – and dreaming of SUMMER!
Oh, Kim, I so wish your dreams come true very soon with the mellowing and hammocking and the willowy dreams. Yes!
I’ve never glamped. We always do it the rustic way. Now I want to try it. Especially happily hammocking.
Kim, such a great poem to reflect your love of camping. I adored “marshmallowly mellowing” and “willowy dreams”. Hope you get some happy hammocking this weekend!
Kim,
You make glamping seem like something I need to try. The alliteration throughout is especially joyful!
Ashley, this is just what I needed this morning–some silly! Thank you. I do love a poem that finds a way to tuck, ‘bibliotherapy’ inside of it. Ha! Well done. I’m not sure I followed the rules…but I had fun. I’m wishing for summer!
bakery, cakery
oh for Pete’s sakery
BBQs out in the sun
time to talk time to laugh
fall asleep on a raft
drifting to nowhere but fun
barefoot in sand by the sea
let’s toss our shoes and run
Linda, this form seems to have come so naturally to you, and it flows with meaning and style. I love the bakery rhyme trio and laugh/raft, fun/run……just so much freedom here to take off the shoes and run on down the beach. Count me in!
Linda,
Creativity and writing what feels right is always better than following the ‘rules’
I love the way this speaks to summertime!
Linda, I LOL’d at those first two lines (like snorted!). I am in desperate need of those last three lines. In fact, I would give up just about everything to land there. I think it’s the drifting more than the barefoot but tossing shoes is highly tempting. What a fun embrace of the chaos and craziness of this time of year.
Linda, your dreams of summer are perfect. The first two lines grabbed my attention right away. The rhyming intensifies the dynamic, so by the time I get to final line, I am ready to “toss shoes and run.” So engaging!
Yep – “let’s toos our shoes and run!” Wonderful, happy poem – Linda – Loved:
bakery, cakery
You made me smile in the second line especially– Pete’s sakery — a line my mother always used. I wish you “barefoot in the sand” soon.
“Oh for Pete’s sakery” That made me laugh. Thank you!
This is lovely Linda! drifting to nowhere but fun sounds like the perfect destination for a Friday afternoon. Consider my shoes tossed!
Ashley, the amount of joy this prompt and your poem brings will set me on the path of finding more throughout the day. I see a picture book in Ashley Dramatically. I love that bibliotherapy is the perfect double dactyl–it sits so gently in the midst of the rest of the poem. Hoping to spread some joy today!
WhenYouWish
heartstringing starflinging
JenJowis hopesinging
earthdreaming moonswinging
rejoicing life
flightwinging joybringing
Aprilis lifespringing
wishbringing newclinging
singingearth’s song
oooooh, that first line is delightful! And then there is more…moonswinging, flightwinging, joybringing. I don’t know which is my favorite. I love them all!
Jen, you mastered the dactyl. Your ings work to bring in the presentness of the action and rope us into singing the earthsong. The flightwinging gives me the image of you flying on a harnessed pterodactyl, holding the reins and cloaked in a superhero poet’s cape, writing with a star pen in the night sky these lines of verse. It’s that amazing.
Jennifer,
Your poem is rejoicing spring so beautifully! I especially love the “flightwinging joybringing” line.
Jennifer, spring is already my favorite season, but you make it so much more attractive with this magic word-making tool of yours. Your “hopesinging / earthdreaming / moonswinging” sound irresistible.
Oh, Jennifer. All the ‘ings. Love every one, and this is so fun to say aloud. JenJowis — perfect.