Happy Times with Poetry...

I have had lots of experiences with poetry. I think the turning point where I actually enjoyed it was in 6th grade when my block teacher did this huge poetry unit. We all made huge books full of poems that we had written over the course of those few months. She didn't let us just free write how we wanted and at first it bothered me. It made me discover though that writing with so many poetic devices could be really helpful and fun. I always thought that it had to rhyme, but I was soon informed that in fact there are lots of ways to write your poetry.
My favorite part was when she would ask people if they wanted to go volunteer to go up in front of the class and read the poem that they had written for that week. I liked that every one's was always so different and how emotions of all kinds could be woven into a few simple words. One girl wrote about her sister and you could totally feel the strong connection they had by what she was saying. Right after her, some girl went and read about root beer and how much she loved it. It was funny, silly, and serious all at the same time. I think that week we had to make it rhyme. It always amazed me how we all had to write the same way, but no two poems were alike.
That poetry unit became a huge stress reliever for me. I think that's truly why I liked it a lot. It got hard at times to follow the guidelines of how it should be written, but what I could say had endless possibilities. I just loved that. Whatever I was feeling at that moment could be put down into a poem. Adults always say talk about your feelings to someone and you will feel better. Poetry for me was like talking to my pencil and paper. It understood what I was saying and when I would read it to someone else, they got it too. I always offered to read mine with the class. I didn't care if people thought it was stupid, it helped me through a lot that year.
At this point in my life, I would have to say, I LOVE POETRY. I write some usually everyday. I never care if its good or bad, I just like writing it. When I hear the word "poetry" I think of emotions. To me that's what it is. Sharing how you think or feel about something or someone through words because sometimes it hard to say exactly what you mean when your being literal.