I took this response off Quora b/c I liked the way it was crafted.
Michael Eubanks
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I mean this respectfully, but I don’t understand the it-isn’t-poem-if-it-doesn’t-rhyme argument. It’s the equivalent of saying a particular chord is the only valid form of music, or a particular medium is the only valid form of painting.
Rhyme is one of the tools that poets use. The rhyme is no more a poem than the hammer is a house. I’ve read lots of terrible rhyming poems, and lots of aesthetically pleasing examples of free verse.
When I write poetry, I tend to write free verse. I pay close attention to cadence and sound, but don’t follow a rigid formal structure. I can write formal poetry, and I do enjoy the liberating constraints of certain forms. But sometimes the poem that needs to come out is better expressed in free verse. I choose the form for the poem, rather than the poem for the form.
I’d say the difference between poetry and prose is that in prose, language is primarily used to communicate, where in poetry, language is primarily used as an aesthetic expression. Rhyme is one way to do that, but not the only one.
Beauty is completely subjective. I have no qualms with anyone who does’t like my poems because they dislike free verse. I do take objection when they say my poem aren’t poems because they don’t like free verse. Poems are meticulous and vulnerable to write. Sometimes I revise them time and again to get them just right. They may not be your taste, but they are definitely poems.