Find a book of poems written by a poet you like or can identify with. When you're first learning how to read poems, choose those on subjects you enjoy or will engage your imagination. You'll find these easier to grasp.
Choose a poem and read it. Visualize the story the poet is telling and any emotion behind it. Even a poem about daffodils waving in a field, or a horse that the poet loved, has a story and an emotion behind the actual words on the page. Look up any words you didn't understand in a dictionary. Remember, a word may have a different meaning now than it did when the poem was written.
Read the poem out loud to yourself. This will help you hear the rhythm (pattern) and tone (emotion) of the piece. Once you can identify these, you'll be able to determine which words the poet emphasized, giving you more clues to the poem's meaning. Read it out loud in a sad tone, a happy tone, a confused tone, and decide which meaning seems to best fit the poem.
Find MP3 files online of poets reading their own work. Several websites feature large libraries of audio clips. Reading a poem yourself gives you a basic understanding, but hearing the poet read it can clear up possible misinterpretations.
Read the poem out loud to other people. Discuss the emotions and ideas it evokes. You may find that teaching yourself how to read a poem is as simple as gauging others' reactions to it.