Leona Medlin writes:

I like to use the term 'poetics' for its reminder that poems are made things, which can be studied as well as written and read for pleasure, and also because its meaning encompasses principles as well as form in poetry.

Because poets adhere to different sets of principles and make use of different elements of form, or use elements of form in differing ways, you may feel more in sympathy with the poetics of one poet than with those of another. This can have a direct affect on critical practice in a poetry workshop.