A No Pens Day poem for Speech and Language UK's No Pens Day fundraiser.

A No Pens Day (Villanelle Poem)

Put down your pens, today’s a no pen day
Let’s exercise our ears to listen well
Imagination needs no pens to play

Let’s summon all the words we want to say
Let’s sync our hands and tongues to show and tell
Put down you pens, today’s a no pen day

Let’s dress as knights, go forth and dragon-slay
Let’s laugh with friends and cast a magic spell
Imagination needs no pens to play

Let’s paint a picture, let’s get out the clay
Let’s sing and use our voices to excel
Put down you pens, today’s a no pen day

Let’s speak with love and language our own way
Let’s see ourselves beyond the way we spell
Imagination needs no pens to play

Let’s hang our hidden pride upon display
Let’s hear, let’s feel, let’s see, let’s taste, let’s smell
Put down you pens, today’s a no pen day
Imagination needs no pens to play

Mark Bird ©2024

💡 Literacy Lesson Ideas for Teachers and Students:

As the poet behind A No Pens Day, I wanted to celebrate the power of voice, movement, and imagination—free from the constraints of handwriting. This No Pens Day Poem invites children to feel language in their bodies, to speak it, act it, sing it, and sculpt it. In the classroom, it opens up rich opportunities for drama, poetry performance, and sensory exploration. Imagine groups of students bringing lines to life through freeze frames, storytelling circles, or even turning verses into a rhythmic chant with percussion. Through these playful, off-the-page activities, the poem becomes not just something to read, but something to live.