Write down the topic, idea, or feeling which you want to express in your poem.
Write out the major points of your topic, answering the questions: who?; what?; when?; where?; why?; what is the most important information about my topic to me?; what is the information about my topic that is the most important for my readers? If necessary, conduct some research on your topic to answer these questions.
Outline what it is about the topic that you want to tell your readers. Ask yourself questions such as: why should anyone care about what I am writing about?; why do I care about what I am writing about?; why do people need to know about what I am writing about? If you are having difficulty answering these questions, then consider further researching your topic.
Choose a poetic form that will best suit your topic, your major points, and your purpose for writing this informative poem. For example, a sonnet could be a good form to use if you want to present a common belief and then show how it needs to be corrected; a ballad could be useful if you want to recount the story of an event; or a rondel could work nicely for a poem about a natural cycle. For a list of poetic forms, see Terry Clitheroe's The Poets Garret website in the Resources section of this article.
Familiarize yourself with the poetic form that you have chosen. Learn about its meter, rhythm, rhyme scheme, and stanza organization.
Organize your notes into groupings to give yourself an outline for each stanza of your poem. Beside each stanza's outline, make a note of the necessary meter and rhyme scheme for each stanza.
Write a draft of each stanza, one at a time. Consider taking 10-minute breaks between drafting stanzas so that you can concentrate on each one individually.
Edit the drafts of each stanza to ensure that they all contain the information that you want in them and that they fit the rules of the poetic form that you have chosen.
Put your stanzas together into one poem, making sure that the movement from stanza to stanza in this draft is smooth.
Check over your poem in its complete form to make sure that all of the information that you have deemed important is included in your poem and that as a whole it follows the poetic form that you have selected. Make notes about what you need to change or add.
Edit your poem based on your notes about necessary changes. Continue to edit your poem until you are satisfied. Once you have a poem with which you are pleased, distribute it as you see fit.