I agree with what you've said, and it goes along with my sister's belief that individual differences are what make us interesting. Now I'll tell you what poetry means to me. In most fiction, like stories for example - the writing is usually bound to traditional styles including a plot, characters, narration, and other aspects we associate with mainstream genres. It's limited in that way.
In true poetry (by my belief) there should be few or no limitations on style. Punctuation, semantic coherence, logic, none of that matters - you're free to write anything you want, however you want! You don't even have to use recognized words from a dictionary (e.e. cummings for example) nor do you have to conform to any meter or rhyming pattern - it's all purely optional.
Poetry represents absolute freedom in written communication, it's the purest art form for writers. The paper is your canvas and the words are your colors. The poetry can be literal, minimalistic, heavily encrypted metaphorical symbolism, stream of consciousness, etc.. sometimes it may seem like complete nonsense even to you. I tend to believe that nothing written down is truly nonsense though, because the words we ultimately choose in poetry often originate from subconscious influence, or so is my belief.
The writing can be done any time you feel like it, though I encourage people to write in solitude, in a relaxed mental state ideal for introspection in order to get the best results. For example, you could bring a notebook with you and lay out in a field of grass overlooking a lake or forest, with no people nearby to distract you. I almost guarantee your mind will be filled with thoughts and images in such a state, and that's when the poetry will come to you best. Try this a few times a week, and you may be pleasantly surprised by the result.