Putting the "New" in the New Year

Happy New Year! We're kicking off 2026 here at TeachingAuthors with a series of posts about something new we're doing this year.  

My "new" goal is to incorporate more humor into my poetry. Lucky for me, shortly after deciding that I wanted my poems for young readers to be more playful, I learned about The Poet's Studio's online workshop "How to Write a Funny Poem with Chris Harris" this coming Monday, January 12, 2026. 

I was familiar with Harris's work from reading his 2023 title My Head Has a Bellyache: And More Nonsense for Mischievous Kids and Immature Grown-Ups illustrated by Andrea Tsurumi. You may recall that I blogged about reading Bellyache back in 2024. But I didn't mention then that the book has the most entertaining glossary of poetry terms I've ever seen--and the glossary is itself a poem! Here are the opening stanzas:

          GLOSSARY OF TERMS
          (from My Head Has a Bellyache)

     A simile flits like a songbird.
     A metaphor struts—it’s a bear.
     Personification
     Says, “There’s a gradation
     Of human in things everywhere.

     Alliterative language looks lovely.
     Consonance crackles and creaks.
     Assonance has
     A class-act pizzazz,
     While sibilance slithers and sneaks. 

          © 2023 Chris Harris. All rights reserved. 

You can read the whole glossary online, where Harris shared it as a series of posts on X. 

When I registered for the workshop, I discovered Bellyache was actually the second in a series that began with a book illustrated by Lane Smith called I'm Just No Good at Rhyming: And Other Nonsense for Mischievous Kids and Immature Grown-Ups. Both books are published by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers. 

Since rhyming is not my strong suit, I find the title especially appealing. But it's obviously not true, given the book's abundance of rhythm and rhyme. Booklist even called it "A magnificently wacky romp through verse." 

I don't know if writing poems like the ones in these two anthologies can be taught, but I'm looking forward to Monday's workshop. An extra plus: all the members of my poetry critique group will be there, too. Are any of you TeachingAuthors readers planning to attend? If you haven't registered yet, there may still be a few openings. You can learn more at Georgia Heard's The Poet's Studio website. 

Don't forget to check this week's Poetry Friday roundup by Ruth at There is no such thing as a God-forsaken town. 

Happy writing!

Carmela