The question was raised on the Round Table: What makes a poem a poem? What follows is my atempt at an answer...
A Poem Is...
What is a poem?
A poet uses the sense and sound of words to convey an experience of "reality". Contrast that to a technical writer who uses words in their unequivocal "technical" sense to explain a process. (I'll leave to your imaginations how the two would describe a romantic encounter)
A poet uses the sense and sound of words to convey an experience of "reality".
A word denotes, connotes, has associations, shades of meaning, and slang uses ... a poet uses them all.
A word, as a spoken entity has a certain physicality -- sound, cadence, the potential for rhyme, alliteration, and assonance ... a poet uses these as well...
A poet uses the sense and sound words to convey. The purpose of a poem is not to describe although description is part of it. The purpose of a poem is not to evoke a mood or feeling although such things do get evoked. The purpose of the poem is not to explain. A poem, through description, invocation, and explanation, conveys.
A poet uses the sense and sound of words to convey something. That something is the experience of the reality that the poet is at that moment creating. That experience of reality may be entirely true or entirely fiction, or something in between. No matter. What matters is that it is the reality, the experience reality, which the poet wishes to convey.
Perhaps this talk of "reality" is over the top. Let's simplify:
A poet uses words to convey an experience.
Any string of words which does so is a poem, IMHO...
Well, I have learned something new today, from a master poet & teacher...everyone should read this and internalize it...Peace thru the Write, Ed & Rufuz
If you tend to believe romantic, passionate, masculine poetry is a thing of past eras, read "She Intrigues Me," and be swept away in the beautiful craft of a contemporary poet of love.
Thanks
That's poetry.