Poetry Friday - A review of Fly with poetry: An ABC of Poetry

Today's Poetry Friday selection is a book that explores the many forms that poets use to write poetry. Using examples, the author shows readers that there are a lot more forms than most people are aware of.

Fly with Poetry: An ABC of Poetry

Avis Harley
Poetry Picture Book
For ages 7 to 10
Boyd’s Mills Press, 2000, 978-1563977985

Many of us think that poetry comes in two forms - free verse and rhyming verse. In actual fact poetry can come in many different forms, and some poems may use different forms from stanza to stanza. In this very special book, readers are invited to explore twenty-six different forms, from A to Z. Yes indeed, there is a poetic form whose name begins with the letter Z. There is also one whose name begins with X - Xcogito. In this form, the poet tries using "experimental" rhymes for words "which cannot be rhymed by traditional means."

For each form, the author has written a sample poem in which the form is used. She also defines the form at the bottom of the page so the reader can understand when and how it is used. Some forms may be familiar, such as the haiku and the sonnet. Other forms will be unknown to the reader, and they will reveal a new side of the poetic world, opening up new possibilities.

The author invites her readers to try their own hand at using some of the forms described in her book by leaving the Y page blank for "Your Poem." Using the tools and ideas described in the book to help them, many a reader will find this to be a challenge that is hard to ignore.

Entertaining poems on a variety of interesting subjects make this book an winning introduction to the world of poetry.