Moreover, poetry is a significant dimension in Zen training. There is no way you can get through formal Zen training without being intimately involved with poetry. Poems are used in Zen liturgy, during funerals, memorials, birthing ceremonies and eye-opening ceremonies. There are appreciatory, congratulatory, enlightenment, and death verses. From beginning to end of a Zen practitioner's life, poetry punctuates the practice.
Poetry appears from the very beginning of practice as capping phrases used in koan study.
A capping phrase is a poem, short saying, or verse that students are asked to present to the teacher once they have passed through a koan. It is another way of showing the koan as a manifestation of everyday life. These capping phrases are everyday sayings and have a familiar feeling. They are not intended as dharma words. Often they come from sources far away from the formal Dharma, yet they contain the wisdom of the Dharma.