I doubt if I'll ever claim to be a poet, for that would be mere puffery since the passion to write does not wholly consume me. With that said, I find that when I'm reviewing poetry, I do read aloud so I wonder if 'real' poets do so as a matter of course.

For me, hearing the words helps me to follow the reason, the rhyme and the metre. When your voice falters, there is usually something there, a misstep, akin to a loose tooth when you bite into an apple. When this ... pause ... occurs, you know that the core (to extend a probably overwrought metaphor) of the poem needs some work.

For me, poetry and music lyrics are the forms of storytelling that can best bypass the logic circuits and go straight to the soul.

I'm not a poet, but I wish I was.