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You might not think Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance” song is poetry, but it is. Some might not consider it poetry because it doesn’t have an ordinary rhyming pattern, or that it contains made-up words. Some people might even dismiss it purely because the lyrics are by Lady Gaga (which may be the most valid argument). Even so, millions of people across the world admire these lyrics as poetry.

Classifying strings of interjections as prose isn’t necessary to appreciate the overall art, but consider that many different forms qualify as poetry. Poetry is in our everyday lives and it is for everyone. It isn’t just rhyming lines of text written by Robert Frost, Shakespeare and men with berets in coffee shops. Poetry places a handle on the concept of language with rhythm and imagery. It is an expression of thought and it encourages others to think. Poetry is used as a lens to see the world in new ways.

There is a tremendous amount of variety in poetic writing that can help you find a style you like and appreciate. Prospero’s Books in Kansas City, Mo., held a marathon poetry reading this April. Will Leathem, organizer of the reading and co-owner of Prospero’s, says performers read romantic, nonsense, musical, humorous and dramatic poems. One gentleman even performed the entire second book of John Milton’s Paradise Lost from memory. Leathem organized the event to set a new Guinness World Record for the longest poetry reading. People came from across the country to read at the marathon and help break the old record of 56 hours and 25 minutes, which was set in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1978. Poets of all writing levels and styles read and successfully set the new world record — 120 hours of continuous poetry.

There are many varieties of poetry to choose from. Find an entry point that works best for you to learn about and appreciate writing. Poetry that is integrated with music is one way to attract interest. “We all have listened to lyric poetry set to music and enjoyed it,” Calvin McConnell, Shawnee sophomore, says. McConnell is one of the hosts for KJHK’s program Word, which blends popular music and hip-hop with slam and traditional poetry. Word helps listeners acquire an affinity for other types of poetry by introducing the idea that hip-hop is poetry with a beat behind it, McConnell says.

Mickey Cesar, graduate teaching assistant of creative writing, first developed an interest in poetry by listening to the lyrics of his favorite musical artists. Cesar says looking up the lyrics to your favorite songs is a good way to start. Examining these lyrics can help you discover what you enjoy. Many students haven’t found anything appealing from previous exposures to poetry and aren’t interested. Like many things, poetry should be given multiple chances. “Most students’ previous exposure is to poems that are very formal and not very relevant to the world they live in,” Cesar says. He notes that many people are turned off from poetry because of their experiences in high school.

In high school, a poem is approached as a problem that has to be solved, Ryan Thornton, Lenexa sophomore and co-host of Word says. “People have to get the right meaning out of it, or they fail. If you just take it or leave it, it becomes a lot more approachable.”

Poetry can also be intimidating. “Poetry is given this idea of a magical property,” Thornton says. “This makes it seem like the poet is in touch with some mystical realm that other people can’t access.” Poetry can be flexible, so don’t let it intimidate you.

Poetry’s flexibility makes it more inviting, but it also makes it hard to define. Kansas poet laureate Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg considers poetry to be words strung together with rhythm and image. Rhythm can be the sounds of the words and the patterns of sound that the words make together, Mirriam-Goldberg says. Image can be sensory descriptions that invoke our senses. “Words are much more powerful when put together in certain ways than they would be in daily prose or ordinary ways we might speak,” Mirriam-Goldberg says. “It’s a compressed form of language that lands in you and unfurls.”

Like Mirriam-Goldberg’s interpretation, the definition of poetry is often personal and decided by the person interacting with it. Poetry can be lines from poems, song lyrics, favorite quotes from movies, funny jokes and anything else that you personally consider it to be.

Found poetry is a type of poetry where authors take words or phrases that feel significant from other works and reframe them as poetry. For example, “Batman’s Poetry” is a found poem by Jill Binder that shows the poetry within lines from Batman TV shows and comic books when taken out of context.

We die every day. A thousand times an hour. Anyone who does this work sees it. Death. Their own, their partners, their loved ones. We go to work anyway. Death is powerless against you if you leave a legacy of good behind. Death is powerless against you if you do your job.

As shown, poetry can come from anywhere. Poetry technically doesn’t even have to be words. There is an abundance of poetry that doesn’t make sense, but some people still enjoy reading it. “You can read poetry without having any understanding of it, without being able to explain it and think ‘Wow, that’s something’,” says Kenneth Irby, associate professor of creative writing. For many people, poetry is another creative way of expressing themselves.

Ideas in poems often come organically. Poems aren’t always the realization of a grand design of concepts and poetic techniques. Many times, poems are a simpler result of ideas that developed. Irby says that with many of his poems, everything that developed happened after he started writing them. Poetry tends to lead to the discovery of new ideas while writing as well as hearing the ideas of other people.

Martin Luther King’s speeches can be considered poetic, Rayyan Kamal, Lawrence sophomore, says. Martin Luther King changed his inflection when he spoke, told a story and engaged audiences with interesting thoughts. Kamal says he is influenced by many thoughts considered poetic. He says poetry is a more interesting way of getting an idea across than a basic conversation. “You can convey a story with another entertainment value,” Kamal says. That additional entertainment value helps get the poet’s message across and create new ideas. “When you discover things, they tend to enhance your understanding of the world,” Kamal says.

Self-discovery through poetry is very common, and it frequently helps some people see the world in different ways. “It can illuminate the everyday sightings of our lives,” Kansas Poet Laureate Mirriam-Goldberg says. “It can also show us what’s beyond our usual sight and what’s below the surface.” Most poets find they actually started noticing more when they began writing poetry.

“It’s like basic advertisement,” Ignacio Carvajal, San Jose, Costa Rica sophomore and Word co-host, says. “You can’t just know the basic facts of things and expect people to care. You have to be able to notice things if you want to get other people to notice them as well.” Finding similarities between images and concepts can result in some of the more striking moments in poems, such as this excerpt from William Butler Yeats’ “Sailing to Byzantium.”

An aged man is but a paltry thing, A tattered coat upon a stick

This is just one example of one poetic technique. Poetry has plenty of other ways that it changes perspectives. “It can inspire people to see beauty in everything and see things that are wrong that they otherwise couldn’t,” Elsa Connolly, Overland Park sophomore says. Connolly performs her poetry at Fresh Ink, an open-mic poetry reading at the Jazzhaus, 926 Massachusetts St., that is held at 10 p.m. the first Wednesday of every month. She says she became inspired by other writers at the readings. “People say things you’ve never thought of,” Connolly says. “That creative energy inspires other creative energy.” Most of the performers at Fresh Ink are beginning poets who write about common experiences. Seeing young poets perform poetry is a great way to try out poetry because the topics are often relatable and you can experience the author’s full intentions. “It’s important to immerse yourself in the writing and hear the way people perform their poetry,” Laura Kitzmiller, Prairie Village senior and creative writing major says. “Reading it on the page is one thing, but hearing it through the poet’s voice is something quite amazing.”

Try going to a poetry reading or reading random poems. There’s no harm in flipping through an anthology of poems and seeing if anything triggers enjoyment. There’s nothing wrong if you don’t find anything, but who knows, maybe you’ll discover something that speaks to you. Poetry is a unique, personal experience because it requires who it is interacting with to use their imagination. It is the expression of emotion and observation. Poetry is fact, but it is an insight to truth.

“It is difficult to get the news from poems, yet men die miserably every day for lack of what is found there.” — William Carlos Williams