Spacing Out P o e t r y

I've been thinking about the dimensional aspects of poetry upon a page. Not only the poem itself within the boarders of the page but the lineage as well.

There are times when the visual impact of poetry is obvious. An example would be Golria Vando's New Shoes and An Old Flame. However, not every poem is dependent upon the kind of tedious spacing of letters /words that are required to achieve what Vando did here.

How important is the visual appeal of a poem on a page to the average reader? What contributes to an appealing layout of words on a page? What kinds of things are turn-offs? Are these questions trite?

Sometimes when I am journaling and not working on poetry drafts (because I often do that in my journal as well) I will catch myself writing in stanzas. Almost without a second thought at times breaking lines much as I would consider line breaks in a poem draft. Go figure.