I like poetry but I haven't written any worth while poems yet. My favorite poem is a poem wild rose wrote when I was complaining about my algebra. She basically took all that I said and made it rhyme
Hope you like it

My Sister’s Opinion on Algebra
Algebra a subject I am sure
Was made for fools by fools
Thinking that replacing numbers with letters
Looks smart and really rather cool
Basic math all do need
Like one plus one is two
But algebra is not for me
You see I am no fool
If you so like this counting style
Counting in this odd way
Then count it all you want
But don’t force me to do it every day
Later when you finish school
You can study your heart away
But why force me to sit hour after hour
And make my brain cells go to waste
Algebra a subject I am sure
Was made for fools by fools
I think the world would be a better place
If they take it out of school

I've had a great love of poetry for many years - reading, mostly, though I have written some. Many of my favourite poets are from the 20th century - Yeats, Wilfred Owen, Siegfried Sassoon, and best of all (a fellow Kiwi!) Lauris Edmond. But I like some slightly older stuff as well - Gerard Manley Hopkins (19th century) had a preternatural command of the English language; read The Windhover to have your mind blown.

Myrddin, I'm impressed. Hopkins is one of the most difficult poets I've ever read. I like his use of sounds in poetry, but mostly I find him confusing and tedious. I think if I read him a lot and got used to his style, I would really enjoy it, but it takes too much work.

Thank-you, Lark!Your poem was very sweet, too!
Miss R, I really enjoyed reading your poems! The adjectives and descriptions are really beautiful and stimulate the imagination. Lovely job.

Question: does poetry need to have a constant iambic, anapestic, trochiac, or dactylic pattern throughout to be officially qualified as poetry?

does poetry need to have a constant iambic, anapestic, trochiac, or dactylic pattern throughout to be officially qualified as poetry?

No, not at all. "Free verse", for example, is poetry that has no set meter at all, though it's usually unified rhythmically somehow. On the edges it becomes a bit nebulous what is and is not "poetry".

I like [Gerard Manley Hopkins'] use of sounds in poetry, but mostly I find him confusing and tedious. I think if I read him a lot and got used to his style, I would really enjoy it, but it takes too much work.

I'm sure you'd really enjoy it. I totally understand where you're coming from - he's not the most accessible of poets - but it would be well worth it to get into his poetry for its richness and beauty.

Pattertwigs Pal: I really loved your poem "To My Future Husband" it is really really beautiful
Gladius: I really liked you poem too
De_De: (disclaimer: this is not my opnion of Algebra, I enjoy Algebra as long as I understand it )

I...don't like writing poems. I enjoy reading it, but writing...no. But I do manage to write one every three weeks or so. So here you go.

The Reluctant Writer
(They told me to write a poem. So I wrote one about how much I hate writing poems)

Here I am writing a poem
(Might I add against my will),
I would be sooner rolling down
some fair soft green hill.

They say “Do this, do that!
Don’t worry, you’ll do great!”
They have yet to learn
what it is I hate.

When I succeed,
it is a surprise.
I have a talent
I do not recognize.

This talent (I think)
will not stay.
This talent (I think)
will fall into decay.

Silver Falls, Makes a Home
(I think this is my favorite. )

Little spiders sailing, sailing
through the air.
Like silver rain
streaming here
and there.
Rain that
falls lightly,
rain that falls
softly, softly
on the wind,
‘till they land
to mend their
home. Home
of beauty
and of light,
home of wonder,
soft and bright.

So, what ya think? More to come, maybe.

Thank-you for explaining, Myrddin!! That's a relief; I was thinking I had to go and edit everything I've written to call it poetry.

Aramira, I really like the repitition method you used there in the second one.

Aramira I loved you're poems. The Reluctant Writer was fun. I have a poem a little similar to it. I was supposed to write a poem about my favorite food, but after racking my brain for half an hour I realized that I just didn't have a favorite food so I wrote a poem about how a favorite food I have not. It came out rather spontaneous and I don't really like it, but I guess it is bearable

Here it is
A Favorite Food I Have Not
I must write a poem about a favorite food of mine
And I am having a rather hard time
A problem with the rhyme I haven’t got
It is a favorite food I have not
Sure I have food that I hate
Like zucchini or fish on my plate
Or I should say I honestly dislike
Like if pea soup comes in sight
But a favorite food many have I
Like potatoes crisp and in oil fried
Or perhaps a pizza hot
Or steaming chicken soup in pot
Fried chicken is another favorite food
And Hamburgers put me in a good mood
Of lasagna there is of course nothing to say
And I’ll take a banana split any day
And on and on can go my list
Of pineapple cake and a chocolate kiss
Of pudding or spaghetti in a pot
All to say “A favorite food I have not”

I used to love writing poetry. I wrote what I considered "normal" poetry: the first and second lines rhyme, the third and fourth lines rhyme, the fifth and sixth lines rhyme, and so on.

However, I lost my "spark" at about age 14 and I haven't written any poetry since. The "pinnacle of my poetry" was a poem I wrote about Alaska that I love and my dad said I should try to send into a magazine but I don't know. It languishes in the back of an old notebook with the rest of my poetry.

Anyway, I'm not a big poetry person. I like the Charge of the Light Brigade and Curfew Must Not Ring Tonight and Casey at the Bat and The Highway Man. The school curriculum I used in junior high had a book called Favorite Poems Old and New selected by Helen Ferris. It has a bunch of good poems in it.

Haha, thanks wild rose! I love your food poem!

Thanks, Aslanisthebest. And yeah, it's my favorite.

Here's my two others.

Haven
(They told me to write a poem creating a mood in a forest. A mood that was not in the excerpts they gave me. To me, they gave the mood of death, imprisonment, and fear. Gosh. So I wrote a sunlit forest. )

The sun breaks through the trees.
The birds fly about busily.
A strong wind blows
making a rustle in the leaves

Yellow and green
stream down everywhere.
Trees grow deep and strong.
The smell of earth is in the air.

I walk and walk,
there is no end.
This haven of mine
is not pretend.

2,560 B.C
(I was supposed to be writing in my yet to be finished epic poem, but I had that Aida song "Another Pyramid" stuck in my head and soo...I wrote this instead.)

Pyramid, pyramid

standing tall and august.

Immovable as the

wind vainly gusts.

Ta-da!!! =)

I like your poems Aramira , they're pleasant to read

I really really love kids, taking care of them is a special joy to me. I used to babysit quite a bit (Sadly due to a lot of school work I've had to give it up for now, though I hope to resume it someday). I've looked after from about 1 to 6 kids and part of my job was putting them to sleep at night and of course we would say our prayers. One evening when I came home from babysitting I got the insperation to write this little poem, I hope you like it.
A Child's Thank You Prayer
Dedicated, with love, to children all around the world who say their bedtime prayers
Dear God the day is done
And I have seen the setting sun
Thank You for the day that past
Thank You for the things that last
For Your unfailing love for us
That it You we can always trust
Thank You for the peace You give
Thank You for the life we live
Thank You for the trees and grass and sky
Thank You for the butterflies that fly
Thank You for the birds sweet song
Thank you for the right and wrong
Thank You for Father and Mother dear
Thank You that You're always near
Thank You for my brothers and sisters too
Thank You for the gifts I receive from You
And now I lay me down to sleep in bed
Please watch and keep me Lord, Amen

Sorry for the double post but I was trying my hand out at writing a Shakespearean sonnet (also known as an Elizabethean sonnet) and I would like some opinions and criticizm
I wrote it at a time when I felt very low (emotionally). I was going through some rough times in my life (times that I'm sure every teenager goes through) and was on the verge of depression, it was actually my prayer that I wrote in poetic form.

My Prayer
Oh Guiding Love that has ever led me
Lead me through the dark I pray
More than ever I cling to thee
For only Thou dost know the way
I trust in Thee for Thou art near
And I know Thou will safely guide
And though the way beyond I fear
I will ever follow by Thy side
To Thee I pray, help me learn to trust
In the peace that Thou dost give
And that stay by you I always must
If in truth I wish to live
Oh Guiding Love to Thee I cling
Keep me ever beneath Thy Wing

Edit: oh and my prayer was answered and I pulled though that rough time with God's help.

@wild rose: wow! Excellent Shakespearean sonnet! I love the prayer you expressed. It's honest and strong. And the way you wrote even sounds Elizabethan. How did you do that?

Two things: (1) shouldn't "more that" be "more than"? (2) "safetly" ... "safely"? [maybe type-written errors?]

Oops those are type written errors (how emberassing , I didn't proof read the poem before posting it, I fixed the mistakes)
220chrisTian wrote

And the way you wrote even sounds Elizabethan. How did you do that?

In my english literature I was studying about the Elizabethean period and read a whole lot of poems, plays and the like written in that language. I was doing only literature for about two weeks and that type of language and writting style kinda rubbed into me, I was speak really funny for the next couple of days (I'd use some words and phrases that aren't usually used nowdays . That's what happens if you read too much literature, I did read some awsome poems though, maybe someday I'll post them) I'm glad you liked the sonnet, I was a little nervous about posting it as it is my first try with this type of poetic writing.