What Poetry's For

It’s not just for nurseries. It’s not just for rhymes.

It’s stories. It’s feelings. It’s wonders and crimes.

Poetry’s for you.

You read it. You hear it. You rap or you slam.

So be into meter (as iamb, iamb!)—

jump into the bounce that a pattern contains—

or throw out the structure if structure constrains.

The point of a poem is not to cause pains!

It’s to speak. To express. To a page. To a crowd.

“Can it be about—”

Anything.

Yup. That’s allowed.

We angle our anger, give air to our grief,

spill out our own secrets if that’s a relief.

Use nonsense to soundily wordify laughter.

Repeat a refrain. They’ll remember it after.

Poetry’s for you.

It’s your place for growing, and flowing, and crowing.

So whether or not you have interest in knowing

the sheep’s in the meadow, the cow’s in the corn...

Come listen.

Come speak.

We’ll be blowing the horn.

Poetry’s for you.

From the March/April 2024 issue of The Horn Book Magazine. For more Horn Book centennial coverage, click here.

Shoshana Flax

Shoshana Flax, associate editor of The Horn Book, Inc., is a former bookseller and holds an MFA in writing for children from Simmons University. She has served on the Boston Globe–Horn Book Award and Sydney Taylor Book Award committees, and is serving on the 2025 Walter Dean Myers Award committee.

Be the first reader to comment.

Comment Policy:
  • Be respectful, and do not attack the author, people mentioned in the article, or other commenters. Take on the idea, not the messenger.
  • Don't use obscene, profane, or vulgar language.
  • Stay on point. Comments that stray from the topic at hand may be deleted.
  • Comments may be republished in print, online, or other forms of media.
  • If you see something objectionable, please let us know. Once a comment has been flagged, a staff member will investigate.


RELATED 

ALREADY A SUBSCRIBER?

We are currently offering this content for free. Sign up now to activate your personal profile, where you can save articles for future viewing.

ALREADY A SUBSCRIBER?