I actually really enjoy reading poetry as well, but especially these children's poems that could be used for teaching material with children. I used to dislike analyzing poems too in-depth because i felt like we probably studied it more than the poet even intended.   I like how poetry inspires so much creativity in kids though, since certain poems lack a specific structure and you are free to write what you feel.  In high school I actually worked in a 3rd grade classroom, and a lot of the student's free time revolved around writing poems about me and their classmates.  I still have all of them saved, and the metaphors they used were so funny and cute that it makes me happy to look back and read them.  I agree with Galda and Cullinan when they talk about poems creating sensory images and expressing emotions we never thought about before.  It is one thing to write a story about the way you're feeling, but in a poem since the words are much more thought out and precise, the meaning seems much more obvious and heart felt.  Also they mention good points about what children prefer, and it included contemporary,understandable poems, narrative poems, and poems with a rhyme or sound.  I think it is important to help kids respond to poetry and state their opinions about what theme was portrayed, but not be single minded- because I believe with poetry there is never only one interpretation and that is what makes it interesting!