2026 April PAD Challenge: Day 5

For today's prompt, write a safety poem. There's bike safety, work safety, car safety, and so many other types of safety. But there are also safety locks, gun safeties, and safeties in American football...not to mention safety pins, safety vests, and safety glasses. Some people put safety first; others throw safety to the side. Heck, there's even "The Safety Dance."

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).

Click to continue.

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Here’s my attempt at a Safety Poem:

“Growing up in the 80s,” by Robert Lee Brewer

We rode our bikes without helmets
and hung out the backs of pickups;
we'd share drinks and wander around
until night time, causing trouble
without getting into trouble
somehow; and we chased lightning bugs
and jumped fences; but we always
looked both ways before crossing streets.

2026 April PAD Challenge

Robert Lee BrewerAuthor

Robert Lee Brewer is Senior Editor of Writer's Digest, which includes managing the content on WritersDigest.com and programming virtual conferences. He's the author of Solving the World's Problems, The Complete Guide of Poetic Forms: 100+ Poetic Form Definitions and Examples for Poets, Poem-a-Day: 365 Poetry Writing Prompts for a Year of Poeming, and more. Also, he's the editor of Writer's Market, Poet's Market, and Guide to Literary Agents. Follow him on Twitter @robertleebrewer.