The Creative Basics Behind Poetry - Introduction

         Poetry is a special way to transfer emotion into logical, concrete images on paper. It fine-tunes the best of writers by telling a whole story in fewer – often much fewer - words. Poetry is thoroughly enjoyed among today’s writing community primarily for its short length. Between the kids' activities, a spouse's Halloween party and the house needing serious cleaning, people have no time to soak up more than a few words. This is why poetry competitions instead of story or novel competitions offering monetary rewards have become more prevalent in today’s society.
           With new types of poetry being invented left and right, there are endless ways to let those creative juices flow in the writing field. And most judges of poetry contests seek initiative and creativity. Thinking of the idea no one else has thought of in the area in which you plan to write is a promising lead in the right direction toward winning competitions. However, you must be careful not to take a step out of the rules and guidelines provided for the competition you are writing for. So be sure to read fine print carefully!
          Understanding the definitions and characteristics of the different kinds of poetry will help writers to fully comply with what a competition, or an assignment in general, is calling for. You wouldn’t want to write a flash fiction piece when the judges or teachers asked for a prose poem. Throughout the next few weeks, I will be explaining the basics of three distinct types of poetry often used for competition. Whether this is a brush-up topic for you or you are new to this beast we call poetry, I hope some of this information will help you along your writing journey, so enjoy!

Rachel Smith