What Is a Poem?

Some say a poem
must have a rhyme scheme
All of the good ones
do it would seem

Some say a poem
must have certain meter
Iambic pentameter
is quite beyond me

Some say a poem
must be truly obscure
with references only
the poet understands

Some say poetry
must have stanzas
of a particular length
and number of lines
with order and rules

Some say the best poems
are free verse where the poet take license
to write as she pleases with short lines and long and
enjambment to bring the thought along

Some say a poem
must have a theme
unlike a dream
that’s fluid and ephemeral

Some say poetry
can be taught and learned
while other believe
no poet should be spurned

Some say the sonnet
is the only true poem
others prefer poetry
sung like a hymn

Some say a poem
is whatever you want it to be

And me? What do I say?
A poem is words set on a page
Psalms are my favorite
For me all the rage

I like rhyming and not
With few words or a lot
But even if I don’t like
the words penned by another
it can still be
A poem

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The NaPoWriMo.net prompt today calls for a meta poem, that is, a poem about a poem or poems. My poem from yesterday would have been a good one, but it’s NaPoWriMo, not Less, so I had to write a new one today anyway. And I threw in a picture of a little elfje I wrote a couple of years ago as an illustration. It’s meta, too.