Journey Into Poetry

By Dennis S. Martin

This book is dedicated to young people everywhere in hope that it will spark an interest in the wonderful world of poetry.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Mar 19, 2015
• ISBN: 9781329002982

Book preview

Journey Into Poetry

Journey Into Poetry:

A Guide for Young People

By

Dennis S Martin

This book is dedicated to young people everywhere in hope that it will spark an interest in the wonderful world of poetry

Print Version ISBN: 978-1-312-97916-1

E-Book ISBN: 978-1-329-00256-2

©Copyright 2006, Dennis S Martin

All rights reserved

Forward by Yvonne Perry

Dennis Martin’s mind is always thinking in rhyme, riddle and rhythm. He’s the most productive poet I know. He cranks out poems faster than McDonald’s makes hamburgers happen. But, unlike the predictable Golden Arches Dennis’ poems are unique and fresh.  Over one-thousand poems he’s written in less than a dozen years. He writes like he’s on steroids! He’s a writing machine!

Dennis is also my beloved cousin. His mother and my father share genes through their birth mother. Whether it is in our genetics or by a higher calling, Dennis and I share a love for writing. And, we both started writing while we were young. 

I started writing when I was in grammar school. By writing, I mean something other than what I had to turn in to a teacher for a grade. I wrote in my secret diary. You know, the kind where the lock only works if you’ve lost the key?

Dennis started noticing poetry when his 6th grade teacher, Mrs. Knuckles, would write poems on the chalkboard and have the class copy and recite them. He kept some of those poems for years. Then he started writing poems of his own.

Our families didn’t get together much when we were growing up so I never really connected with Dennis until our cousin Wendy, the email queen, forwarded a funny joke to both of us. From there, Dennis and I took part in a Yahoo! poetry group that offered critiquing for its members. Dennis and I kept in touch long after the group folded. When he asked me to write the forward, I felt honored to be a part of a book that would touch the lives of young adults like you.

Every child has a dream of what they want to be and do when they grow up. Perhaps you want to be a writer or a poet. Anything is possible. All it takes is desire, determination, and a little imagination. Of course it helps to be able to spell and read well.

But, this is not a book of how-to write poetry. Those mechanics can be learned in a classroom. Before you finish high school, you will probably be required to write poetry by following some form or standard, and that’s all well and good because it teaches the basics of what constructs a poem, and you need to learn the rules before you can start breaking them.  

This is a book of poems written especially for young people who want to learn from reading other people’s poetry.   Poetry is an expression of who you. Poems carry a message—although many times coded or hidden—to the reader. Since a poem is open to interpretation, it is a living literary work that gives a different message to each of its readers.

It is our love of poetry that brought Dennis and his long-lost cousin together after all those years of