Rhyming Equals Poetry? Poem by Angela Bontle Ditumiso

We never got the appraisal
Never heard, we need to rhyme
If we're to become poets
Do it like Shakespeare
Or get awarded with a leer

Each day humanity grows colder
Like time approaching winter
We groom stiff shoulders

Words arrows to kill self confidence
To sap life's essence
Disparaging people's exertion
Demeaning good actions

That's all we ever do
Build barricades
Burry brothers beneath boulders

We never give credit when it's due
Citizens with degrees in degrading
We grade and throw shade
Kindness fades
Earth is the extension of the Hades

Should I rest my pen
Since rhyming is beyond my ken?
What if I don't write for the fans,
Should I still halt my plans
To compile a poem collection?
Poetry has been redefined?
Is opting not to rhyme now a crime?
Would I have been fined
If perchance I hadn't at all rhymed?

Tell me if this is poetry
Why don't I ever get a consideration?
My sheer determination
Going unseen
Where have you been
Give me an explanation
Because if rhyming is the it
I wouldn't be throwing a fit

Imagine if I hadn't rhymed
I wouldn't have written a poem
But then again
The rules are bound to change
After all boxes are being constructed
People are being obstructed