poem

I want to discuss this word because I feel like writing one at present but I am doing my homework instead! The American Heritage Dictionary defines the word as "a verbal composition designed to convey experiences, ideas, or emotions, characterized by the use of language chosen for its sound and suggestive power and by the use of literary techniques such as meter, metaphor, and rhyme." It perhaps was derived originally from the Greek "poiein" which means "to create", and became the Greek "poiema" then the Latin "poema," and still further through Old French to the French "poeme" before arriving at the word we use today. Interestingly, the last definition in the American Heritage Dictionary is "a creation, object, or experience having beauty suggestive of poetry" (my emphasis), which does not leave much of a story for me to tell of how "to create" became "poem"!