Another late check-in, and I am attempting my hand at poetry.
I still feel very confused right now, and my log book is practically empty. Help ):
You have 3500 words to write in total - which isn't a lot, and if you put in the effort, you ought to be able to write it out fast enough and then get down to editing.
The only way to improve your poetics is to practice it, as the old maxim goes - practice practice practice. You musn't worry too much, while you practice, about the quality of your verse. It will start off crap, but will improve as you go along. For these practices (remember: they do not have to be submitted obviously) just take an idea and run with it. Once the poem is finished, read over it: determine what is good, and what is bad. Then rewrite it, trying to keep the good and improve on the thing as a whole. No other efforts will avail you. By this process, you slowly will acquire the natural faculty for writing well and determining good/bad.
In addition, you ought to get some text books dealing with the matter. Examine verse from different periods; find something you like and try to emulate it. At this stage it is too late for you to be focused on rhyme (it is revolting unless it is done superbly - e.g. Pope), and these days few contemporaries, to their detriment, seem to like metre, so you probably should focus on developing a free verse style. You still must of course learn to apply basic and complex techniques - ie the obvious metaphor, simile, personification, hyperbole, alliteration, enjambment etc - but also you should study the more complex rhetorical schemes and tropes.
