:) Whereas for me, left to my own devices I tend toward sonnets pretty preferentially, and mostly stick to some kind of defined structure; I've done some unstructured stuff, but not a lot.

Somehow, having to compress what I want to communicate into that tight structure seems to help me stay focused, keep me using the simple and direct word instead of the complicated/distancing one, sort of "keep me honest" in the poem. Which surprises me -- I would have expected it to work the other way, and end up with things that felt forced. _shrug_ You just never know. I'm odd!