Poetry is an individual's creative written response to an experience.  The experience may be physical, intellectual, or  emotional.  The poem may be one's personal response to something external such as a sunset; it may be a response to something internal such as love or grief or anger; or it may even be a response to an experience such as what it feels like to play an instrument on stage for the first time.

Poetry can be rhymed or unrhymed, have few or many lines or verses,
may contain figures of speech or not.  It may follow a predetermined poetic form or be free form. It may describe images colorfully or starkly.  The poem is the poet's canvas to express himself as he pleases. Lines of poetry may be interpreted in different ways depending upon the experiences the reader brings to it.

What is a poem?

Most of us think of Poetry as ryhming or at least have a meter or beat, but free form poetry is considered poetry and does not have to meet either requirement. I would most likely define poetry in relationship to prose. Prose tells a story of some kind. It has a beginning middle and end, even if it is short or not very detailed or leaves us hanging. Poetry expresses thoughts and feelings without having to have any chronology or any specific story or event that it is describing. I find a lot of poetry difficult to read or relate to, because I don't know what the poet is trying to express or I can't relate to what they seem to express. I love the poetry of lyrics though and any poet who can make me see and feel what they feel, I do enjoy.