Welcome to April and National Poetry Month. I plan to write a new poem every day for the month of April. For much of the month I hope to explore prompts in poemcrazy by Susan Goldsmith Wooldridge, but I make no promises not to find inspiration in other places. If you want to join in even more poetry fun and shenanigans check out the 2020 National Poetry Month Kidlitosphere Events Roundup hosted by Jama over at Jama’s Alphabet Soup. And for the first time (for me) I am taking part in the Progressive Poem organized by Margaret at Reflections on the Teche. Check out the daily progress with the list of contributors on the right.

Today’s poem is from last month’s Ditty Monthly Challege over at Today’s Little Ditty. Michelle Heidenrich Barnes shone the spotlight on reader and poet Tabatha Yeatts, who challenged us to write a poem about a game. I squeezed out my poem just in time. Nothing like the last minute to provide motivation!

I love playing board games–especially the new ones brought home by my daughter and her college friends for game weekends at our house. The crowd is a little smaller right now, but we have enjoyed rounds of Sentinels of the Multiverse (my favorite) and the very timely, topical PANDEMIC. Both of these are cooperative games where players work together to defeat villains (in Sentinels) or stop the spread of four diseases in PANDEMIC. If you haven’t heard of this game, you can read more here by its creator. Now in honor of our current crisis and staying at home, here is my poem.

PANDEMIC

Place your players on the board
And race to use your special skill,
Never knowing when the
Deck of cards will start an
Epidemic. Work together to
Mitigate outbreaks of
Infection until you find four
Cures to win the game.

Now may all the scientists and healthcare workers and leaders work together to bring our current pandemic to the best possible end.