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Created as a modern day calling card by Carol Varsalona

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Spring's Calling Card designed by Carol Varsalona

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Spring's Calling Card designed by Carol Varsalona

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OPEN YOUR HEART TO SPRINGTIME!

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Thank you for joining me for my 2026 National Poetry Month Project, which celebrates Nature's vibrancy and its effects on life in early springtime. I applaud the poets, artists, and photographers for their creative work. Each artistic expression is a gift to spring. All rights to the following artistic creations remain with the authors. If you would like to comment on their work, please do so in the comments' section below each piece of work.

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The 2026 Progressive Poem is a gem, a beautiful example of art in motion, set in the Land of Poetry. Tabatha Yeatts created the map of the Land of Poetry and opened the poem for her colleagues to continue. Donna Smith and Heidi Mordhorst added names of locations on the map. Please visit the progressive Poem that you can find at https://theoppositeofindifferencecom.wordpress.com/2026/04/28/2026-kidlitosphere-progressive-poem-wraps-up/. You will find the names of each poet who created a line to build a truly splendid poem on The Land of Poetry.

Thank you to Margaret Simon for organizing this year's Progressive Poem, Irene Latham for her inspiration to be the founder of this National Poetry Month Project, and each poet who added her golden line on the designated date during National Poetry Month.

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A Rainy Easter Brings Joy - Tricube Poem See Below

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A Rainy Easter Brings Joy - Tricube Poem See Below

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Cathedral of green

refreshes heavy hearts

comforts weary souls

- Ramona Behnke

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Written in response to a NYT story about bombings in Tehran this month

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It is almost 50, & light rain in Seattle.
Is there anything more predictable?
No, for this is April. Nothing cruel here.
Shall we do without hope?*

On the light rail with bored travelers,
The trees are greening up,
for they know the assignment when
It’s almost 50, & light rain in Seattle.

Two more stops before we arrive
and now, just like that, it’s heavy
rain with some added hail while we walk.
Is there anything more predictable?

Soon I’ll get to hold my grandson;
And soon after that he’ll be grown.
But for today, he’s still 3 and holdable.
Yes, for this is April. Nothing cruel here.

Greening trees in the spring.
The Pope opining about theology.
And all will be well with the world.
Shall we do without hope?*

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Sunrise Morning Photo & Poem by Derek Varsalona

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Sunrise Morning Photo & Poem by Derek Varsalona

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sun awakens life

nature's beauty calms the mind

red sky at dawn

©Derek Varsalona, 2026

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By Jill Dailey Collage a poem: Built for the Water (Haiku)

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Thanks Carol for popping by my blog and so happy to add my poem. What a beautiful poetry bounty you have here. Happy Poetry Month! Jill

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Growing

I love my Easter tulips,
the ones I bought on impulse along with groceries

So many pots had blooms already bending over, drooping
But I found one with perfect leaves, slender straight stalks,
and plentiful buds still tightly closed

I brought them home, setting them on the mantle

One by one, flowers started blooming
Cups of sunshine brightening Easter week,
opening wider each day

I love my Easter tulips,
the ones that pour hope and joy into these days with their impulse to grow

Draft, Diane Anderson, 2026.

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Staying

My tulips are almost spent
Tall stems now bent

Yet though they bend
Hold beauty till the end

Let me do the same

Draft, Diane Anderson, 2026

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Ekphrastic Haiku paired with Van Gogh's "Apple Blossom" painting - Blending art and poetry

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dainty blossoms pop

against a glorious sky

spring's gift renewed

©CVarsalona, 2026

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Flowers for Lisa #2- Abelardo Morrell, Inkjet Print, 2015, National Gallery of Art

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Tanka

Sparkling clear water
Ordinary Mason jar
Flowers, all colors
Tuck in with wild profusion
Set in sunshine- work of art

(Draft, Diane Anderson, 2026)

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C.JGAnnino "At old-timey plant sale"

Wood carts of old with tired wheels wait

wondering which royalty

will weigh them down

soon, sturdy-stacked.

Disappearing Magic Hurricane Lily

Hammock Sweet Azalea

Blue-eyed Grass

Bee Balm

Birdsong Nature Center shelters

once common

now uncommon

verdure.

words & poem JGAnnino

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Daffodils planted 27 years ago with my mom

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She is Risen

By Patricia J . Franz

And still everywhere the little lives,

still bulbs bearing winter’s weight

–everywhere, nowhere, somewhere–

the seed wakens; re-members sun to soil.

Little do we know the stem’s strength. It

lives in us, too–– yearning to be whole.

*And still everywhere the little lives

taken from “Mouth of the Canyon,” by Traci Brimhill

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Image haiku inspired by Joyce Uglow and Kathy Halsey on Stuck Bumblebee Poetry at Substack.

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https://jilldailey.com/mixed-media-poetry-notebooks/

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CVarsalona captured the photo and created an image poem with FotoJet.

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My grandgirl , Aurora, had a wonderful afternoon cutting peonies and arranging them in crystal and Victorian vases for an inside display. She even wrote this poem and learned to digitize it for the padlet gallery.

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“Poetry of Spring” by Kent refers to the highly textured, abstract nature landscape painting by North Carolina artist Kent Paulette.

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I did not expect that AI would review my Spring Seeds Grace April Gallery Padlet!

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A Surprise Review of Spring Seeds Grace April popped up on my internet from AI

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A Surprise Review of Spring Seeds Grace April popped up on my internet from AI

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image poems blossoms

with seeds planted by each poet

creative minds bud

Thank you to each nature-loving poet who graced this vivacious gallery padlet. - Carol Varsalona

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May peace settle in each person's garden!