A valid question to ponder...in verse no less Anthi -- without rhyming -- heathen -- lol -- Actually that should be the other way round - the English department might proclaim that it is only heathens that rhyme...although I'm not up to speed on the latest trends from the hallowed halls of academia -- All that said, I do wonder about this -- and I must admit -- I occasionally hear a highly articulate person verge on poetry in their speech, when answering a question [in media] -- and so, I wonder if poetry is not about aesthetics as well; not just the ramifications of some subject matter -- I mean I read free verse poems that just sound like a snippet of dialogue from a conversation -- often less poetic than the above said "articulate person" and I wonder if some free verse is poetry -- So, I think the rule is - if it is to be free verse, it must hold some kind of profanity and/or beauty of articulation -- the latter I do not find a lot of in modern poetry -- what say you? Else I find it simply a statement -- no more no less!