Decide on the theme of your poem. What are you intending to say to your audience? Poets should come to the paper with an intention. Do you want to discuss the joys of love, the tragedy of defeat or the sadness of poverty? Have a clear idea before you begin. You can always edit later if you feel inspired to go in a different direction.
Know your characters. In dialogue poems, it's important to have two distinct and whole characters. Each character must have his own history. Although their personal stories may not be revealed in the poem, it's crucial for you as the poet to be very well acquainted with both characters. Understanding a character's personality, background and motivation is necessary to creating a believable and moving poem. Readers cannot relate to two-dimensional characters, and they run the risk of being perceived as caricatures. To know your characters, write down a brief biography of each. Jot down a reason why they have arrived at their respective points of view.
Know each character's point of view. An effective dialogue poem showcases two opposing viewpoints and allows the reader the benefit of seeing the virtue in both. As the poet, it becomes your job to guide the reader into seeing the value in what each character is saying. A dialogue poem should discuss each point of view without bias. Although the poet may want to lead the characters into championing her cause, it's also important to realize that each character deserves the right to be heard. A dialogue poem is not limited to debate only; it can cover topics such as life and death, questions and answers, or love and hate. All of these topics should have an equal platform in your dialogue poem.
Edit your poem after you're sure you've said all you can. Erase from your poem all redundancy. Don't allow your dedication to realism to distract you from the fact that poems should be to the point, and yet lyrical. In other words, a poem should always express an idea in the most eloquent and extraordinary way possible.
Consider a rhyming scheme. Although modern poetry considers rhyme a limiting function, some poets may enjoy the challenge. When rhyming, consider a pattern that is less obvious to the ear. Perhaps an ABAB rhyme scheme, where every second end-word rhymes, may be superior to an AABB scheme. Never sacrifice a point of view for a rhyme, however. Find a different way to convey the thought, or consider dropping the rhyme altogether or limiting it to a repeating chorus.
Write as a whole. Try to turn off your internal editor as you write. Turn off your rhyming editor also. Let the words of each character speak through you, and don't stop the flow if possible. There's always time to edit yourself later, but creativity usually comes in one great flash of inspiration and is not patient. Don't worry how much you are writing. Even if what you are writing is well beyond your idea of how long the poem should be, allow yourself the process. The more material you have to work with, the easier it will be to edit away the redundancy and see the true point of view of each character.
Avoid words like "said," "told" and "relayed." Find ways to show what the character is doing and not just tell the reader. Instead of these words, use action words that describe what each character is doing after each speech, such as, "Ted's eyes were filled with the amber color of sunset," or "The wind carried Susan's hair."
Allow the characters to have actions. As in Step 7, show the reader the scene between the two characters. Allow them to have a sense of how the characters feel about each other, whether there is tension in the air or flirtation or a general feeling of dread. Show this by the way the characters interact with each other in speech, as well as in action. Realize that dialogue poems concentrate mostly on the character's words, but you can also fill the reader in with a sense of place.
Cut out unnecessary language. You may be tempted to keep certain phrases in your dialogue poem to allow it to sound more natural or modern, but simplicity is the key in all poetry. Verbose monologues by each character will only weigh down your poem. Cut out the weeds and keep the flowers. Remember that you are writing poetry, and it doesn't necessarily need to sound exactly like an average conversation, as long as each phrase is easily understandable.
Find a poem structure that works best for you. There's no right form to take with a dialogue poem. Some poets prefer to write these poems as a traditional play, with the name of the character and then his lines. Other poets find it best to write dialogue as if it's a snippet from a novel with the character's line, the character identification and the character action. Others prefer to write without identification tags at all and allow the reader to discern the difference. Look in the Resources section to find examples of each type of poem.
Read the poem aloud. Consider enlisting a friend to help you. When you read a dialogue poem out loud, you can hear each character's voice, or lack thereof, and edit accordingly. An important part of writing a successful dialogue poem is in hearing each distinctive voice.