Hello Friends,

I’m keeping last week’s post (round-up hosted by Matt Forrest Essenwine) up for this week (hosted by Jone Rush MacCulloch). Poetry Month has been busy for me! My project is to share postcards with poets that I have addresses for. If you’d like a postcard, reach out so I can get your snail mail address. Happy poem-ing!

Each month, my Inkling friends challenge one another to write to a topic, form, or similar prompt. This month is my turn to offer a prompt. I invite you too.

Ars Poetica

A poem that explains the “art of poetry,” or a meditation on poetry using the form and techniques of a poem. Horace’s Ars Poeticais an early example, and the foundation for the tradition. While Horace writes of the importance of delighting and instructing audiences, many modernist ars poetica poets argue that poems should be written for their own sake, as art for the sake of art. Archibald MacLeish’s famous “Ars Poetica” sums up the argument: “A poem should not mean / But be.” (Poetry Foundation).

My OLW for 2026 is Child. This painting by Kaoru Kawano caught my eye and led to a haiku sonnet.

haiku sonnet

spring whispers, april  
baby, come out of your shell  
to pink, green, gold light

all colors of sky  
petal and branch made for you  
try them on for size

bring yourself to life  
baby, come out of your shell  
winter’s done and died

life is all outside  
let spring winds and rain fall soft  
roses for your cheeks 

a pearl begins in darkness
it’s sunlight that gives her shine

Linda Mitchell 4/3/26

See the ars poetica of other Inklings:

Mary Lee Hahn @ A(nother) Year of Reading

Catherine Flynn @ Reading to the Core
Molly Hogan @ Nix the Comfort Zone
Margaret Simon @ Reflections on the Teche
Heidi Mordhorst @ my juicy little universe