When I show the poem printed the "regular" way, I use regular punctuation. But when the poem is spread out in a shape, some of that regular punctuation gets in the way, so I may leave it out, or change it.

In general, I like punctuation because I like things to be clear.

Punctuation just tells you what's going on in a sentence--where, of course, as in life itself, sometimes there are important interruptions--and to me, punctuation is almost like having somebody there to help you understand what's happening. 

In that sentence above, each dash ("--") helped. It was as though we were already talking, and some kid dashed up saying "Excuse me!" and then added that point about interruptions, and then dashed away, saying "Bye now!"

Without the dashes, it's as though the kid barged in and started talking right over our earlier talk, which would be like this--and much harder to read:

Punctuation just tells you what's going on in a sentence where, of course, as in life itself, sometimes there are important interruptions and to me, punctuation is almost like having somebody there to help you understand what's happening.