A lot of people are turned off to poetry because they think it is hard to understand - and to some extent, that is true.
Unlike everyday speech, poetry does not take the straightforward route.
Instead of saying, "I'm sad," one poet might say that her heart is breaking.
While most people know what that common phrase means, many poets try to come up with unique images to paint a picture of their thoughts.
One example is this passage from the poem "The Moon and the Yew Tree" by Sylvia Plath:

The moon is no door.
It is a face in its own right, White as a knuckle and terribly upset.
It drags the sea after it like a dark crime; it is quiet With the O-gape of complete despair.
I live here.

Pretty sad, huh? Sometimes line breaks in a poem may confuse a reader.
Sometimes a poet does not use capital letters or may not use punctuation - conventions that readers rely on to help organize the written word.
Sometimes the use of rhyme serves as a distraction for the person who is struggling to find a poem's meaning.
So what's the use of a poem? Why go through so much trouble to say something in an odd manner when a traditional essay would be so much easier to understand? As a poet myself, I think our job is not to force readers to think harder but maybe to help them understand familiar things in fresh ways, or in more detail, or even to bring out different emotions.
Poets can also introduce new concepts to the reader by describing them in ways the reader can relate to.
Sometimes poets want to let others know how they feel at a particular moment, and sometimes they want to make political statements.
Simply put, poetry is an intense form of communication that uses a variety of different methods to get the point across.
Once you understand the different methods, you can reap the rewards of this powerful art form.