What is poetry? The answer can only be defined by the reader. Poetry is passion, the moment, the peak of a sensation placed into words…the feeling that rushes through you when first beholding a magnificent panorama, a work of art, or a physical sensation. To love poetry is to love life and everthing it has to offer; the good things, the bad, and sometimes even the painful. These feelings can be as fleeting as the poems themselves, or as enduring as the long oppression of Africans in the Americas as illustrated by some of the great artists of the Harlem Renaissance.

Many experts on poetry have defined certain rhythms and measures that define quality or content, but the real measure of poetry can only be taken by a person that is reading it. Does it move you? Can you imagine the message of the poet as they are sharing their feelings with you? Do you understand the poem? All these questions must be calculated after the experience, and one should not feel obligated to negotiate the questions in any order. If a poem is good, you will know it. It will flow into you directly from the mind and hand of the author…it will make you cry, fill you with awe, or cause you to seek out your significant other for some intimate quality time. The real bottom line of poetry is this, read it and feel the mood, the words and if you can, the rhythm. Poetry will set you free.