What constitutes a poem? Is there a criteria into writing poetry?

Flor Lizardi: something that moves your heart

Mauro Cowee: Criteria For Poem Writing

Aubrey Tirri: Anything can be poetry as long as it comes from something you know

Flor Lizardi: Poetry is the distillation of expression that uses language in figurative ways to reveal truths it paradoxically seems not to speak of... What is a poem? A craft of words and sense,Of sinewed syntax wrought with utmost care,Of tropes and lines, and simple ornaments,Steered on their course by winds blown wise with wear.A craft of silk so finely sewn it seemsQuite seamless, like the world it softly mocks,So perfect that it flows in satin streamsAnd sings as softly as a cradle rocks.Whence does it come? A loving calloused handInured to tine and toil, and yet so deftEach syllable and serif's turn is plannedAs surely as the finest fiber's weft.We come to know this mystery by degrees --A poem is all, and yet is none of these....Show more

Brittanie Zakutney: "Poetry presents the! thing in order to convey the feeling. It should be precise about the thing and reticent about the feeling, for as soon as the mind responds and connects with the thing the feeling shows in the words" - Wei T'ai, 11th century.â—¦"Poetry is the sound of language organized in lines. More than meter, more than rhyme, more than images or alliteration or figurative language, line is what distinguishes our experience of poetry as poetry, rather than some other kind of writing", James Longenbach", The Art of the Poetic Line", Graywolf, 2009 Poetry is the kind of thing you have to see from the corner of your eye. You can be too well prepared for poetry. A conscientious interest in it is worse than no interest at all. ... It's like a very faint star. If you look straight at it you can't see it, but if you look a little to one side it is there.~ William Stafford, from Writing the Australian Crawl (1978)....Show more

Michelle Sohre: extremely tough step. look into from yahoo or ! google. that might help!

Galen Gowers: I have a secret p! lan how some folks in here could make money out of this deal, but I shut my trap because nobody wants to hear it and everybody wants to go the "self-publishing" route where you hand over the rights to your own work to Elaine & Richard and they make 200 dollars and you get screwed. Ask Buk if you want to know how that goes. The most popular poet in YAP and he took the same dive as everyone else wants to. The poet laureate of the United States needs a day job. There is no real money in poetry....Show more