Potholders

Thursday, April 30, 2026

A Fun Form of Poetry

Poetry Month has looked a bit different on our blogs this year, but I’m still glad we’ve respected authors and their copyrights by not sharing full poems without permission. As National Poetry Month comes to a close, I wanted to share a poetic form that felt fun and new to me.

I recently attended a poetry workshop at the library focused on newer forms. While many were unfamiliar and arguably interesting, quite a few felt too odd for my taste. When something becomes barely readable, like the form that relied on diagrammed sentences, it starts to defeat the purpose of poetry. I was especially lost with “Substitute 7,” where every noun is replaced with one that appears seven entries later in the dictionary. But I digress.

Leila Chatti first introduced the idea of Cootie Catcher poetry in the February 2022 issue of Poetry magazine. In that piece, she includes a link to a printable version so you can fold your own Cootie Catcher and create your own poems. The following link adds some more details: Art Prompt Poem and the video below offers a good explanation:

I made one myself and filled it with random words and phrases pulled from the archives of my older blog posts, which was a fun exercise in its own right. I’m not sure the resulting poems are especially “poetic,” but I did enjoy the creative process.
 

Nostalgia
Moment of serendipity
Tinkered with over time
 
Patience
Her brain is completely scrambled
Presume to be hopeful 

I hope you read some kind of poetry you enjoy, or maybe even something that challenges you, today and every day!

 

4 comments:

  1. I had forgotten about those things you are calling Cootie Catchers! I don't think we called them that, but I remember them being a lot of fun. I think your resulting poem is pretty darn good, but that is because your phrases are so good. In fact, it seems to describe me these days.

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  2. I LOVE THIS! What a FUN concept - and a great way to get over the "hump" of writing poems (which most of us, of course, are far too inimidated to try doing). I adored Cootie Catchers as a kid and made them all the time. But never with such beautiful words. Your resulting poems are really wonderful, Bonny! XO

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  3. What a great idea! Cootie Catchers - have not thought of them in years. Love your poems. And, yeah, my brain is scrambled these days......but I am hopeful and I NEED patience!!

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  4. I made a Cootie catcher for my little grandson this summer. I know I didn't put words in his since he can't read but for the life of me I can't recall what I did put under the flaps.

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