scares me. Sorry but i don't understand it. I would love to have a go so can you please give me a few pointers.

Ok well I'll tell you how I like to write poetry, but thats not necessarily pointers as such. I try to write with a melody, so maybe when you read it out loud it sounds musical, so in oder to do this lines need to have similar consonants (not certain that is the right term) and not every sentence needs the same, if you make the first and fourth sentence rhyme and match with say four consonants, then the second and third sentences rhyme with say seven consonants you might get something like this:

This poem sucks
I use it for example
I may just end up trampled
I'm out of luck

write four little paragraphs like this (stanzas, again not sure if thats right) and you have a poem. All you need now is a topic. Hope that helps, most of all poems are for yourself not meant to be designed for others, so write what makes you happy and read it aloud to see if it flows

thanks for the tips Dirkin, will give it a go

i try to follow the rhythm thing too...

when i'm trying to be a poet.

when i'm reading - phenomenal rhyming, great timing, or a good story works for me - as long as the story isn't too deep or is encrypted beyond my understanding...

poetry (that isn't blatent) tends to confuse me a great deal, i like to be smacked in the face with the truth - i'm a lazy detective...

A poem is a song without music




lol i just made that up. I have trouble understanding poetry too, but I find myself writing it sometimes. Go figure.

Actually..you are right...a poem basically is a song with no music. There is no right or wrong way to do a poem. It's just words from the heart, whether they are happy, sad, angry, etc...

Free verse seems to be the most popular style here (you just write basically).

But if you want to be like the GREATS I suggest you look up rhyme scheme (could be AABB, or ABAB, or AABC, etc) and meter (the length of a line measured in syllables).

(mouth waters) And throw in some poetic devices (metaphor, simile, personification, alliteration, onomatopoeia,etc...).

Think of the message you want send out before hand.

There are rules to poetry too, don't be fooled.

But of course you can always break away from the rules and write up what's in your mind!

I'm out