"This is how it will all end-"

Paint Chip Poetry #01: April 1, 2025

"This is how it will all end—"

This is how it will all end—
The house will be swallowed whole by a tornado.
The lavender from the herb garden will retreat,
Back, back to the richest, darkest of peat.
All that will be left is the foundation;
A shadow cast against a lost conversation.
A silent tome of polished stone,
A smattering of baby's breath,
How simple, how precious—death.

Prompt & Paint Chips for April 1, 2025

---

What is Paint Chip Poetry?

While browsing an art supply store recently, I came across a small game box filled with small paint chips and prompts—simple building blocks with which to create infinite poems and colorful sequences.

I’ve always adored poetry but never felt particularly adept at writing it. This year, I’d like to try and get better. With it being National Poetry Month, I thought it would be a fun writing challenge to use this game box as inspiration to write a brand new poem every day for the entire month of April.

Here are the rules I’ve made up for myself:

1. I must choose a prompt and four-to-eight paint chips at random. I get a single opportunity to re-draw a chip if I’m not feeling it, but that’s it. Just one. However, I can redraw if I get a repeat.

2. I must write a poem using the prompt and all of the paint chip words/phrases within the text of the poem. They must be bolded and italicized.

3. I must post the poem each day to Substack & include a photo of the paint samples in every post.

How ironic—a death poem for a new start! April Fools, I guess :)

---