Fostering engagement in virtual discussions while assessing critical thinking skills can be a challenge. Poetry allows nurse practitioner students another perspective on learning difficult concepts1 across all domains of Bloom's taxonomy. During a discussion in an online course on care of patients with hypothyroidism, students were asked to write a poem over the course of 8 minutes covering some or all of the following elements: (1) how a patient might present, (2) lived experience, (3) physical findings, and (4) testing and treatment. No advanced prompt was provided, allowing students to apply knowledge from the module readings. At the end of the time, students were asked to share their writing experience and poem if desired. If important content was missed or incorrect, faculty guided the discussion ensuring accuracy. Students reported enjoying a creative way to learn and share their poetry with classmates. Ultimately, all the students participated in the discussion and reported learning elements of hypothyroidism. This poetry writing activity provided an alternative to lecturing and presenting content, which often allows for little student engagement. Poetry is a creative modality to assess knowledge and critical thinking skills using creative expression through metaphor, while allowing students to guide virtual discussion.

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