Writing Tip: Free Verse Poetry

"Free Verse" poetry is a type of poetry that doesn't rhyme or use a certain meter (rhythm), but you can tell it is poetry. Usually, it has lines like a poem, each line starting with a capital letter. When you read it, it "feels" like a poem, even without the rhyming and meter, because the words and idea flow more like a poem than a story. Rosemary O'Hagan wrote a beautiful free verse poem for the animals issue. The first few lines of the poem are:

A summer night's wind blows against
A forest of Aspen trees. Each of their leaves
Flip and flutter making them seem as a
Glittering blur. Under the greenery of the
Trees a mother bear lies with her new bear
Cubs.

Read the whole poem and think about what makes a poem a poem:

Animals Issue