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What's the first rule of writing poetry? There are no rules. Poetry rules! In other words, you can spell words wrong, use bad grammar, write words upside-down, or even invent new words. In fact you can do anything you want as long as it makes your poem better. That's called poetic license. Your poetic license lets you drive your poem anywhere you want.

For example, in my book, Laugh-eteria, there's a poem called "Dracula" where I rhyme Dracula with blackula, snackula, and Cadillacula (as a matter of factula). Now, you won't find those words in any dictionary. I made them up!

You can invent new words too. What do you call a hippo with the hiccups? A hiccupotamus. What is an octopus with socks on? A socktopus. And why does an elephant need a big nose? To smellephant.

What can you write a poem about? Anything and everything. Even nothing. Here's one:

        A poem about nothing,
        Nothing at all.
        A poem about nothing
        Would have to be small.

Where can you get ideas for poems? How about in school? When I went to elementary school (some 500 months ago) we had a class clown. Whenever the teacher stepped out he would make loud funny noises. In my poem "Class Clown," he brings a snake to school, spits his green peas across the cafeteria, and plans to join the circus.

You can get ideas for poems by reading the newspaper. I once read an article about how so many things are digital today. Then I wrote "Digital Dude" who, in a digital mood, eats digital food.

I also get ideas from kids. When I visit schools I sometimes hear them mix up words. One first grader told me that when a frog hides in the grass it's called camoufrog . Another kid told me that frogs eat french flies . Do they also drink Croaka-Cola ?

You can put your feelings into a poem. When I wrote my "Do-It-Yourself Poem," I was feeling so lazy that I left some words blank. You have to fill them in.

You might want to give your poem an interesting shape, if that makes it better. A poem about pretzels could be in the shape of a pretzel. A poem about starfish might be shaped like a star. My poem "Shoes" is in the shape of a shoe (it smells like one too).

Do you have trouble coming up with good rhymes? Go through the alphabet with a rhyming sound. You can look at the alphabet above your blackboard. Then you might rhyme bat with cat, fat, or rat. (How about that?) Use a rhyming dictionary for longer words like acrobat, habitat, or even scaredy-cat.

But don't you be a scaredy-cat when writing poetry. Have fun, break a few rules, and remember: Poetry is great! Poetry rules!

Beast wishes,

Douglas Florian

Poetry Rules!

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