According to Pinellas County Schools student resources website, a concrete poem uses the words of the poem to create a picture of the poem's topic. The poems cannot work without this connection between the poem text and the object shape. The goal is to convey a meaning, something that is not possible if the reader has difficulty seeing the correlation between the text and the picture formed with it.
Again, the goal of the concrete poem is to convey meaning. To successfully do so, you must fit the words in a shape that readers can identify. This is not a place where interpretation should vary. To ensure that your shape is one that is recognizable, look for common objects that reflect your topic. For example, a poem on the topic of flight may take the shape of an airplane or a bird. These are easily recognizable symbols that, alongside the poem text convey your message to the reader.
Many topics have several alternatives, so explore your options before deciding on an object. Making a list of symbols that are closely related to the topic of your poem is one way to explore possibilities. This also helps in creating the poem. The NASA's Quest Learning suggests creating couplets as a way to begin your poem. A couplet is two rhyming lines in a poem. Write one couplet, followed by another and another until your poem is complete. Write a few couplets to start and settle on the ones that best describe your topic and that best convey your message.
To help create the structure of the poem, create a pencil drawing of the object you intend to use in the concrete poem. Take the poem and try to work it into the drawing, so that the outline of the objects is portrayed with poem text. Try drawing an outline around the text to ensure that the object is discernible. The concrete poem about flight, for example, can take the shape of an airplane. The words can create two wings, a body and a tail. Drawing a light pencil line around the words to see if their outline truly resembles an airplane.