There's rap and rondels, odes and elegies, ballads and blank verse, villanelles and heroic couplets. A whole universe of poems just waiting to be written and read. It's fairly inexpensive and chock full of all sorts of examples of what poems do and how poets think. The terms are arranged alphabetically, and though it is by no means an exhaustive edition, it's a quick reference for the poetically challenged. Another excellent guidebook to understanding poetry and a wonderful inspiration if you want to improve your writing is Susan Wooldridge's poemcrazy .
Poems hold the invisible.
In 60 brief, delightful chapters, Wooldridge takes the reader on a journey - forming sounds and collecting words, then playing with the language and teaching the reader to listen and celebrate that infinite realm of deeper meaning around us and within us. I started taking poetry more seriously as a writer when I read poemcrazy, but Wooldridge's charming passages, her experiences with people and their poems, also allowed me to take myself less seriously and opened me up to a much larger playing field where I could toss and catch words for as long as I wanted. If you still have no use for poetry after reading through Susan Wooldridge's poemcrazy and The Poet's Dictionary by William Packard, I wouldn't abandon all hope. You may not be ready for poetry. It, however, is always ready for you.