'Requests a description of one or more stacks.
**Required Permissions**: To use this action, an IAM user must
have a Show, Deploy, or Manage permissions level for the
stack, or an attached policy that explicitly grants
permissions. For more information on user permissions, see
`Managing User Permissions`_.
:type stack_ids: list
:param stack_ids: An array of stack IDs that specify the stacks to be
described. If you omit this parameter, `DescribeStacks` returns a
description of every stack.'

def describe_stacks(self, stack_ids=None):

    params = {}
    if (stack_ids is not None):
        params['StackIds'] = stack_ids
    return self.make_request(action='DescribeStacks', body=json.dumps(params))
