I think the following helps: 1) Start with earlier form-based poetry. Free verse is a hard place to start because it's difficult to even know what to look for

I think the following helps: 1) Start with earlier form-based poetry. Free verse is a hard place to start because it's difficult to even know what to look for if you're starting somewhere that open. 2) Find subject matter that interests you. I know that I associated poetry with the subject matter of romantic love for the longest time. There is a lot of that out there and I find it repetitive. I enjoyed epic poetry and more philosophical verse more and this really helped. 3) Read it out loud. For all the theory, poetry is written music. Reading it out loud helps to find the rhythm and to "feel" the pacing. 4) Short pieces often lend themselves to multiple read-throughs. Almost like a piece of code. I seldom read code starting on line 1 through line N. I usually take a few passes looking for different things. Short form verse is a lot like that. 5) "How to Read Poetry Like a Professor" by Thomas Foster is a good crash course if you really want to have a starting point. Remember that you're inundated with poetry. Nearly every pop, rock, rap or metal song you've ever heard in your life is poetry with musical accompaniment (music + poetry is a combination as old as history, near as I can tell).