Contest Information* Hawaii Poetry Resource Guide: Ideas to teach poetry to students in Grades K-12* *These are PDF files. You can get a free reader from www.adobe.com

What is a poem?   The students whose pieces appear on these pages know.   It's a snapshot of a living moment -- full of rhythm, sounds, imagery and often layers of meaning.

Whether it's about friendship, family, first love, war, growing up or rubbah slippahs, poems capture in some magical way certain basic human truths.    Like any work of art, they speak to us.     They're honest and real and often more than the sum of their parts.   

When we started this contest eight years ago, we hoped to give students a chance to say what was on their minds.   This year, more than 4,000 students in grades 3 through 12 did just that -- in poems that were funny, touching and sometimes painful to read.

We hear a great deal these days about the importance of basic skills.   What better way to encourage literacy, creativity and the power of words than through poetry?    

Every year we wish we had more space and time to share the hundreds of wonderful entries we receive.   But we take heart in knowing that students are out there, across the state, keeping the magic of poetry alive.