Well, you already have my answer. I think the question as stated is
silly: you're confusing the absence of a single criterion for
distinguishing poetry from non-poetry with the absence of any
meaningful distinction in general. One might as well ask for a single
criterion for defining jazz. I can describe all sorts of jazz to you,
and relate them to each other, so the term isn't merely functioning as
an "honorific"; but neither does it directly correlate to a single
atomic attribute (swung rhythm, say, or improvisation, or use of
chromatic chords...). Still, Django and Billie and Miles and Coltrane
are jazz, and Arvo Part isn't, although Jan Garbarek could probably
make Arvo Part sound like jazz (or jazz sound like Arvo Part) with a
little effort.
Dominic
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