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

answers1: Anything can be poetry as long as it comes from something you know
answers2: "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. <br>
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◦"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 <br>
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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. <br>
~ William Stafford, from Writing the Australian Crawl (1978).
answers3: something that moves your heart
answers4: extremely tough step. look into from yahoo or google. that might help!
answers5: Poetry is the distillation of expression that uses language
in figurative ways to reveal truths it paradoxically seems not to
speak of... <br>
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What is a poem? A craft of words and sense, <br>
Of sinewed syntax wrought with utmost care, <br>
Of tropes and lines, and simple ornaments, <br>
Steered on their course by winds blown wise with wear. <br>
A craft of silk so finely sewn it seems <br>
Quite seamless, like the world it softly mocks, <br>
So perfect that it flows in satin streams <br>
And sings as softly as a cradle rocks. <br>
Whence does it come? A loving calloused hand <br>
Inured to tine and toil, and yet so deft <br>
Each syllable and serif's turn is planned <br>
As surely as the finest fiber's weft. <br>
We come to know this mystery by degrees -- <br>
A poem is all, and yet is none of these.
answers6: Criteria For Poem Writing
answers7: I have a secret plan 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.