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Do you love the layers of language?
Playing with words?
The sounds and rhythms,
And layers of meanings?
Would you like to develop a poetic sensibility?
In the not too distant past,
poetry was main stream.
Every school kid memorized poems.
Not just the high-brow and well-heeled,
Average Folks,
recited poetry for special occasions,
had a dozen poems in their head,
learned by heart,
that they could pull out to woo a lover.
I was impressed a dozen years ago,
and given hope, by the Poetry Slam,
more recently the Def Poetry Jam,
High school students and their Poetry Out Loud,
And a string of Poet Laureates
have made strides to bring poetry back.
This page is dedicated to re-planting,
fertilizing, weeding, and nurturing,
A love for poetry.
Read on
and write a few of your own!

Here is my latest!!!

and read aloud one of your favorite poems to some one who will shout BRAVO!
I like playing with genre, so here a few basic types of poetry
a few examples and a little 'how-to' on writing these different types of poems.
Birthday Poems
Inspired by Dylan Thomas, almost every year, I write a Birthday Poem to reflect on the year, on the day, or on the bigger issues of my life. Since my birthday is on June 29th, I am often out canoeing, hiking, swimming, or working on the Spirit of Peoria, hence there are often images of rivers and trails!
56 * 55 * 545352 * 51 * 50 * 49 * 48 * 47 * 45 * 44 * 42 * 41 * 40 * 39 * 38 * 37 * 36
Now you also know how old I am!