This collection of poems was birthed from a simple English assignment in the fifth grade. I wrote my first poem, 'snowflakes,? in my English notebook and got a rather nice grade on it. I assumed that that was the end of the story, but I was wrong. Writing soon became an outlet for me when times were rough or I was just plain bored. One grueling school year later, a notebook full of poems and stories, and a whole lot of encouragement from family members, I decided to publish my amateur writing. So a big thank-you to every inanimate thing that helped inspire me, and my family, who kept pushing me on when I felt like giving up.