What is Poetry? Poetry is the forming of words that expresses a thing or feeling. It is something we can learn from, or have fun reading. All poems can give very different messages. Some are sad, giving the feeling of sorrow or longing, some are happy, giving the feeling of thankfulness or contentment. And some are creative, there is no real description for what message it gives. This is a poem written by my sister, Sarah Dumas. It won fourth place in the Michigan State Fair in the year of 2006. I am that which grips the heart in fright, hearkens black and silent as the grave. I am there when you are alone in a room at night, you can hear the beating of your heart. The hair on the back of your neck begins to rise, when your bones are trembling, you will know I am there. Doors slamming, boards creaking, footsteps in the dark, screams echoing through the halls. You can hear me, feel me, breathing down your neck. I am those catlike eyes staring out from the shadows. I devour the bravest of men, and arrive when least expected. I can always hear you, see you, feel you. I know wherever you are, wherever you hide. You can feel me in the pit of your stomach, and you cannot escape me. I am coming for you, You run, but you can't hide. I am a part of you, a part that will never leave, Over the ages, I will consume those you fall into my grasp. Run, run, if you can. ~ Sarah M. J. R. DumasWill there ever be a morning? Is there such a thing as day? Can I see it from the mountains, if I were as tall as they? Has it feet like water lilies? Has it feathers like a bird? Is it brought from famous countries, of which I've never heard? O some sailor, O some scolar, O some wise men from the seas,Pleased to tell a little pilgrim,Where the place called morning lies. This is a poem written by my good author friend, Danielle Meek, who has won awards for her good writing, and who I owe a lot of thanks for help in my own writing. by, ~The Shadow~This is a poem based off of a part in my book. If I said anything more about it, it may just give something away, so I will leave it at that. But that is why it is so depressive. You will always remember this, though you live for a thousand years,And all else passes from your mind, it shall become your desires, yet your deepest and most dire fears. You shall suffer every day, to recall what you have lost. I stand here before you now, the only one you spared, and look upon your darkened face,To see you cursed forever more, and imprisonment to consume. Your time is done, the darkness gone, the wind to sweep away,The ash and dust of those now dead; for now in a silent haven they lay. You cannot run now, you cannot escape the reprisal, of the ones you left behind,They shall know better days, in a place where refuge thrives, a place you shall never find. For all duration, you will sit and wait, for a time that will never come,Shadow and darkness will consume your blackened soul, And you will know your lonely fate. ~ Mary Catherine DumasRemember, that even if you think poems have to rhym, they to not have to! Many famous poems do not rhym, and yours does not have to either. But if you do want to rhym it, make sure that it sounds good, and it makes sense. You know, that it goes with everything else. Make it so it flows above all.