*much chuckling* Well I feel a little better now. If you guys cant agree on what free verse is, what hope have I got? Its always the most fundamental question that spurs the discussion. You should thank the goddess for beginners with silly questions. Matt said "(If you decide to do away with the line breaks altogether, you have prose poetry, which a colleague of mine insists is not poetry at all - but we've had the prose poetry discussion already.)" Well that was going to be my next question ... I'm inclined to confusedly agree with your colleague. And as I was not here when this was discussed before, and as its poetry and not egomaniacal ravings, isnt it a legitimate topic? ;-) Josephine