Laura Loughridge remembers her 11th birthday for one important gift from her mother, a book of poetry.
The book prompted her to read and write poems ever since, and she wanted to give her own daughter, Anna Woolfolk, 12, the same love of words, writes Ron Wolfe in Family.
“I think most people begin writing poetry as a way to express things they feel,” Loughridge says. As she kept writing, she found in poetry “a way to think outside the box.” Now daughter Anna enjoys writing poems, too.
See Wednesday’s Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for more about these prize winning poets and opportunities for young poets to contests.