This post is for Ryan, whose words brought me back here, and not before time! The ideas for rant poems come from John Biando and I share with John's idea which has potential for use in the classroom regarding those things that genuinely cheese us off! Poets have long written about the things that vex them. The practice of ranting in poetic verse dates back to at least Ancient Greece. Though the rant poem is not granted the same canonic acceptance as the sonnet or sestina, rant poetry has flourished from Homer's time to our own. Rant poetry comes in all shapes and sizes, but it is most commonly defined as a free-verse prose poem written about an exasperating subject. Follow the steps below to wax poetic about any subject that aggravates, pesters, or otherwise drives you batty.  Step 1 Settle on a single subject that provokes, annoys, exasperates or infuriates you. This subject will be the topic of your rant poem. Step 2 Brainstorm a list of reasons why your subj...