Introduction: What IS a Poem, Anyway?

For the next couple of blog entries, I’ll be talking about poetry. So, what IS a poem, anyway?

Is it anything at all, as long as it is not written in our usual sentence or paragraph form?

Is this a poem?

For the next couple
Of blog entries
I will
Talk about poetry

It kind of LOOKS like a poem. I don’t think it is one, though. For one thing, all it does is give information about the next couple of blog entries. A poem does more than just give information.

Poems try to say something more important or interesting than that. They try to make you feel or think—or, better, feel and think.

Here’s a poem from my book Kerfuffle! It’s called “Temper Tantrum.”

You make me mad!
I’m one huge hurricane!
I’ll point my mean finger!
Don’t you do that again!

Watch out, Bub!
I’m the boss!
I’ll cut you off
And it’ll be YOUR loss!

Don’t you walk away!

How can I yell at you then?!

Hey, come back here!

Guess I shoulda counted to ten.

As you see how silly/crazy we can be when we are mad, I hope you laugh a little. I hope the poem makes you think about what happens when we lose out tempers, too.

Poems also have form. Some poetic forms are pretty strict, like the rhymes in “Temper Tantrum.” In the next couple of blog entries, I will write about some of these poetic forms. I hope you will try writing in them, too, and publishing on www.kidswrite4kids.com.

Just remember one thing as we start, though: The new ideas for poetic forms never end. You can make up your own—and I hope what I write will inspire you to do just that!