This is not the definitive answer. It is my answer. I always leave room in my responses for people to do more research on their own.

• Poems are miniature short stories. They have a beginning, middle, and ending with a single arc to the conclusion. There’s a solitary theme.
• A poem is an idea encapsulated in a few lines.
• It’s a feeling expressed in words.
• Or perhaps a setting that stimulates the imagination.
• Poems tend to give people something to relate to or think about.
• They can evoke strong emotions
• The lines are grouped in verses or stanzas.
• Often the metre creates the type of poem you’re reading.  

Some poems are very short, and some go on for pages.

Dry Storm

© Lyn E. Ayre 5Jul22

The thunder rolls mightily across the dark sky

But the rain doesn’t come    everything stays dry

Lightening illuminates and I ask, ‘where’

The gods do not answer; the ground stays bare

The End

***It may be formal with rhythm and rhyme.

In the Now

© Lyn E. Ayre 30Oct 22

tis no surprise

that one who’s wise

really knows how

to stay in the now

where life can live

and one can give

attention to

what one must do

to be elsewhere

can cause a scare

in future; past

alarm will cast

a spell on life

make full of strife

be of good cheer

and stay right here

***Or it may be loose with a more prose-like feel.

Ireland a Dream

© Lyn E. Ayre 7Apr2022

my eyes feel ravenous
as they cast about
the towering limestone
of Irish cliffs

my heart is racing
as it rolls through
the hills of an
impossible green

my mind’s revived
by the thundering
waterfall crashing
down the mountain

my spirit rises
with ancient gods
who danced in rain
upon this landscape

Ireland riches
ancestors’ paradise
forbearers’ nightmare
venerable homeland

***Songs are poems put to music. This song is called, “Hugs” and has two verses and two choruses.

Hugs

© Lyn E. Ayre 30Dec21 (song)

Eighteen thousand five hundred hugs

Ain’t never gonna be enough

You came along and you changed my life

What a zinger   talk about love

***Some poems are prayers.

Eagle’s Cry

© Lyn E. Ayre 21May22

Oh eagles cry

you soar

where spirits roam

Your message clear

and pours

into this stone

I hear your voice

my core

will take you home

***Prose can have poetic passages and colourful phrasing.

F Words For 2021

© Lyn E. Ayre 1Jan22

At least half the words beginning with F can just eff-right-off, eh.

Words like:

facemasks forevermore

far away from another human

furious fans for the heatwave/heat-dome

finding hundreds of dead children forgotten in the fields

and it goes on from here…

***One may use free verse—which follows the form of natural conversation neither rhyming nor having a rhythm (like F words).

***Or blank verse—not rhyming, but definitely has a rhythm and syllabic stresses.

Turned to Home

© Lyn E. Ayre 23Dec21

swans happy

to sit on

the glassy

surface of

the water

floating on

together

still   liquid

reflection

soulful cry

cygnets   five

running quick

parents honk

encourage

bravery

it goes on from here…

***Or formal verse, which incorporates rhythm and rhyme.  

Ballerina

© Lyn E. Ayre 21May21

I’m not a ballerina

trapped in a music box

spinning always spinning

ever searching for the locks

I’m free to make another choice

to make my dreams come true

and sing and play and dance away

the night only with you

there’s more to this poem…

***You might be reading a Haiku in which the first and last lines have five syllables and the middle line has seven.

Courtenay

© Lyn E. Ayre 23May99

she is born in love

looks at her gramma and smiles

blue eyes cast their spell

***Poems often include poetic devices such as metaphors, symbols, lessons, and alliteration.

The topics for poems are as endless as there are things, scenes, weather, emotions, settings, and people on Earth.

This is only a tiny bit about poems and poetry. There are many free and really good courses that people can take if they want to learn more. There are hundreds of poetry books online on Amazon, which offer a free look inside the book to see if you might like it.

Love Lyn

© 2023 Lyn E. Ayre

The example poems above have come from three of my books of poetry:

“Waking Up to the Life Left in Me” 2022

“rhythm & rhyming spirit” 2023

“This Glorious Life” coming in 2024