2026 April PAD Challenge: Day 29
Write a poem a day with poets from around the world for the 2026 April PAD Challenge. For today’s prompt, write a pocket poem.
Quick announcement: Just in case anyone missed it, I announced the 2025 November PAD Chapbook Challenge results here yesterday. Also...
Tomorrow is Poem in Your Pocket Day as celebrated by the Academy of American Poets. Click here to learn more.
For today's prompt, write a pocket poem. As usual, there are a few ways to come at this one. Write a poem about pockets, like the pockets made of fabric, but also other types of pockets (like pockets of space or pockets of information). Or, another option is to write a short poem that would easily fit in your pocket.
Remember: These prompts are springboards to creativity. Use them to expand your possibilities, not limit them.
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Play with poetic forms!
Poetic forms are fun poetic games, and this digital guide collects more than 100 poetic forms, including more established poetic forms (like sestinas and sonnets) and newer invented forms (like golden shovels and fibs).
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Here’s my attempt at a Pocket Poem:
“return of the madmen,” by Robert Lee Brewer
let us carve out a pocket of time
in a place where we can break our lines
without weighing our lunatic rhymes
that wander lost yet still always find
our fractured hearts still yearn to be kind
& we speak love whenever we whine
