Start the poem with a line that has an image, an idea and a feeling in it. This may sound daunting, but amateur writers do it all the time. For instance, you might write "The bird, trapped inside the house, was blue." Use personification or a metaphor to make that line, or the next line, more compelling. For example, "The bird was a piece of sky trapped inside a house."
Use metaphors and personification intermittently. If you do not devote the poem to all metaphors or all personification, mix the two throughout the poem. For example, you may write "Above the beach, the seagulls were whistles screaming through the sky." To personify the beach you may write "I walked across the beach's hot face, porous and buckled with pimples and warts."
Personify objects or forces that will move the poem along. Avoid personifying a thing just to personify it; have a purpose for everything you do in your poem. For example, you would not write that a window had its eye open watching you work if you are not writing a poem regarding watching, spying or working.
Use metaphors carefully. Metaphors are powerful figures of speech because they instantly transform one thing into another. When folding metaphors into your poem, be original but wary of making claims too silly or not helpful to the purpose of the poem. For example, avoid writing that the flowers look like hungry little mouths if the rest of your poem celebrates tranquility in nature.