What Makes A Poem A Poem

In short,
what makes a poem a poem is the ability to make the reader feel something.  I know that can
happen with prose, as well, but it seems to me it must happen with a poem.  As has already been
mentioned, a poem is different in form from prose--the normal rules of writing just don't
apply.  That doesn't mean a poem can't have form or punctuation, but it doesn't have to.  One of
the books I teach from is called Sound and Sense, which comes from the idea that poetry should
match its sound with its meaning (sense).  If it's a serious or depressing poem, the language
should reflect that.  If it's a poem about how long something should take, the words should not
be short and move wuickly over the tongue.  I suppose, in the end, a poem is anything which is
not prose.