Quite a few people still seem to assume automatically that poetry and verse are the same thing. But as one of the 20th century's better lyricists said:"It ain't necessarily so...". Some poetry is verse - some isn't. Some verse is poetry - a lot isn't.

For example, the messages inside most birthday/Christmas/get well soon/etc cards are mostly verse,but seldom poetry. So are the lyrics churned out by many contemporary singer-songwriters.

On the other hand, some of the finest poetry is not verse. Consider for example the King James translation of 1 Corinthians 13:

"Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity,
I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal...

When I was a child, I spake as a child,
I understood as a child, I thought as a child:
But when I became a man, I put away childish things."

Or T S Eliot's "Journey of the Magi":

"A cold coming we had of it
Just the worst time of the year for a journey
And such a long journey ...

The cities hostile, the towns unfriendly
And the villages dirty and charging high prices ..."

Writing verse is a word-game, like Scrabble but a bit more complicated. The end result may fulfil all the requirements laid down by the rules of the game, but still not convey a meaningful message.

Writing poetry is an attempt to communicate thoughts and feelings from one human being to another by the imaginative - rather than the strictly literal - use of language. If it works, the end justifies whatever linguistic means has been used to do the job.

As for Andrew Motion, the problem that concerns him was addressed some years ago by Adrian Mitchell, who was (IMHO) a far greater poet.

"We have to give up our fear of speaking to people who have never been touched by poetry before.
We have to give up our fear of speaking to people.
We have to give up our fear of people.
We have to give up our fear."

Wassail!