National Poetry Month, celebrated every April, was started in 1996 by the Academy of American Poets. Every year the United States Library of Congress appoints a Poet Laureate. Poetry predates written text. The earliest forms of poetry were songs, stories, and oral histories. Researchers believe that poetic stylings – rhyme, arrangement, sound, and meter – were developed to help storytellers memorize stories more easily. Poetry can take us on an emotional journey and open our minds to new concepts.