Poem, n.
Etymology: [L. poëma, Gr. poëme.]
1. A metrical composition; a composition in verse written in certain measures, whether in blank verse or in rhyme, and characterized by imagination and poetic diction; -- contradistinguished from prose; as, the poems of Homer or of Milton.
2. A composition, not in verse, of which the language is highly imaginative or impassioned; as, a prose poem; the poems of Ossian.
Shades of meaning
Fernald has no entry of its own for poem; he lists it under poetry.
He lists it without comment; the entries above explain its neighbors.