Because of the way it had been taught, I rarely had been allowed to experience the power of the poem, taste its richness, let its texture really touch me before I had to begin analyzing, dissecting, pulling apart. Keep the dissecting in the lab. Use poems to increase understanding and deepen enjoyment. Poems may be written in vernacular or rap, all caps or lower case, but a good poem is always substantial, teaching us about ourselves and the world. A poem's imagery and metaphors can intensify and clarify meaning.
Poetry can turn on the light and deepen meaning as nothing else can.
Two or three minutes may be enough. A poem that catches a class's interest may come up over and over in discussion, be referred to again and again throughout the year as a shared experience by which other moments may be measured. What can't be seen or understood by more didactic methods of teaching may suddenly be clarified by a poem. Poems touch us at deep levels, levels we don't or can't always articulate. Meaning carried by metaphor and the condensed, tight language of a poem may penetrate faster for learning disabled students as well as having great appeal to gifted students because of a poem's many layers and the worlds contained, but not necessarily voiced.