What can listening to children's ideas about poetry teach us? This article considers ways in which exploring primary-aged students' perceptions of poetry can inform teachers' work with children. Using strategies from earlier studies in secondary schools, a small-scale project with Year 6 students revealed their complex and sometimes contradictory ideas. These ideas reflect some of the current debates around the nature of poetry and ways of teaching it. The children's ideas are analysed with critical attention paid to the impact of the view of literacy in England's "National Literacy Strategy" on the teaching and learning of poetry.