Every good poet has an individual and original way of writing. This is what often makes a poem seem strange and unfamiliar. Don't worry. Keep reading and this "foreign language" will start to make sense.
Modern poets have tried a great variety of forms, new ways of putting words together, of punctuating, of beginning and ending, of dividing up poems. And they have been more interested in non-rational ways of thinking than most poets before them--interested in dreams, in the unconscious, in accidental inspiration. They have tended to avoid the usual forms, the usual ways of saying things, the usual ideas, the logical connections, anything that might be limiting. That's why sometimes their poems seem almost like a new language.
Sometimes poetry has a "mysterious" effect caused by its use of words in an "unusual" way, different from that of "regular" talking and writing.
Poetry can change you, change the way you look at the world, at life.
Because words already have usual meanings and ways of being put together to get something across, we expect this when we see these same words in a poem. Sometimes you need to forget about your expectations of meaning, like you do when you listen to instrumental music.
Read a poem with the kind of freedom, openness and sensitive attentiveness to your own thoughts and feelings that you have when you write a poem yourself or when you listen to a friend talking, or when you hear music. Go beyond your intellect--respond to the poem with a part of your intelligence that includes your feelings and imagination and experience.
Start talking about a poem, start "analyzing" it, by thinking of how it affects you. What a poem makes you feel helps you make sense of it by making the poem part of your own experience.
You can like a poem before you understand it; you can be moved by it, and in fact, that is a sign that you're starting to understand it, that you're reading the poem in a good way.
You may find what you read to be beautiful, or be reminded of people, places and times, or find in the poem another way to look at things. All this can help you to understand the poem because it brings it closer to you and makes it part of your experience.
Read a poem several times just to get used to the style. Get a sense of the whole poem.
Clarify any unknown words--use the dictionary, encyclopedia, or ask someone.
Some sentences will be hard to follow, either because they are too long, or broken up, or incomplete. Words may be in an unusual order. For these difficulties, just go through the poem slowly, seeing where the different sentences begin and end. If you understand part of a poem and not another part, try to use what you understand to help you see what the rest means.
Sometimes you are looking for something that isn't there. There won't be "the one and only meaning." There may no point, no conclusion about life in general or some hidden meaning. Work with what is there.
What a poet wants to say will be found in the words there on the page, almost always in the most common meanings.
Poetry is like music, or even sports in this way: the more you play, let's say, football, learn the rules and strategies, the more you watch it and talk about it, the more you will get out of it. To some, watching a football game is filled with excitement and drama. Some will appreciate the beauty of a catch, the power of the blocking, the interesting play-calling, the use of the clock. To someone else, the game is chaos, just guys bashing into each other.
When talking about poetry, don't try to "get to the bottom of it," or "figure it out," just try to clarify it, make it more a part of what you know. Don't worry about coming to conclusions about the poem.
Make what you say about a poem as simple as you can, be specific and give examples to show what you mean.
Don't think you need to be abstract, general or philosophical. Being abstract is often a way of being evasive and can hide what you know. So be simple.
To make a convincing point, you need to refer to particular parts of the poem--the words and lines. Quoting these is an essential part of making things clear.
Go slow, be simple and clear. Just say how the poem seems to you and what exact words and lines in the poem your ideas and feelings come from.
Even if you think you don't understand the whole poem you can still talk about the following: the tone--what it sounds like. Does it sound like something you'd hear in church? at a party? that your mother would say? an idea--is there some statement in the poem you agree or disagree with or find particularly interesting or confusing an image--what do you "see" in the poem? Are these usual or unusual images? how do they affect you? The words--what kinds of words does the poem use? The title--where does the title come from? why did the author choose it? how does the title help the poem? How are things connected--is the poem logical? illogical? dreamlike? Do certain words, phrases, sounds, images repeat? how it begins and ends--how does the poem reach out to you in the beginning? How does it leave you?