Poetry is often overlooked. Many people even hate writing it, even those who usually enjoy writing. And, yet, there is a whole month dedicated to it!

In 1995, the Academy of American Poets created poetry month to celebrate and bring awareness to poetry. It was inspired by the success of Black History Month and Women’s History Month. Poets.org has more information about the month and ways you can participate.

Poetry isn’t just something to be analyzed in your language arts class, it is something that is used to express yourself. It can bring attention to social issues, be a personal story, allow your creativity to flourish, and so much more.

People have been creating stories and expressing themselves through poetry for centuries, and yet, people often reduce it to being overly convoluted and unnecessary. Poetry shouldn’t be something that others loathe because they are forced to analyze it. Poetry is anything you make it to be, and whether that means it is full of meaning or sweet and simple is up to you.

Everyone should write poetry at least once. When writing poetry, you don’t have to follow rhyming schemes or have a complicated structure, it can be as simple as a Haiku about cashews or cats.

There are infinite ways to write poetry and it should be something to enjoy. Anyone at any skill level can write poetry, and they can write it however they want, which is what makes poetry so special and why it should be celebrated. Poetry is meant to express yourself in any way you see fit, any emotions you have, anything you want to create, the world is your oyster!

This is why poetry month matters. It makes poetry more accessible to others by presenting it, showing that poetry can be fun, it can be about anything, and it shows the human psyche and how wonderful creation can be.