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How to improve:
My suggestion is for a structured class for a semester and then a creative class the next. Do
not do it in reverse. Then join a writing workshop group. This is the fast method if you can
grasp quickly the information that you are getting. In my case I kept on taking courses and
courses until I was told to go get published. Really "I got put out of the place!"

Start with a writing course then a poetry course at:
The Junior Colleges - A University - Or Continued Education Courses often in High Schools.
There are night classes. There are Weekend Workshops, and of course day courses.

Ask about discounts for Seniors. You must if you are in that category. This will keep instruction
available for the seniors who cannot take the course otherwise.

Have a friend take the course with you. This is great fun during and in between classes. You
can get together or exchange, over the telephone, some of your weekly efforts before the next
class.

You are already a writer.

If you are rusty, take a refresher course. You will feel good to be appreciated in a class
because you will be a model for others. The class exercises will run over into assignments that
you will delight to do.

Write poetry as sports.
"Practice makes perfect" for an athlete and the same is true for a writer.

Give yourself short assignments every day. Pick a subject and write four lines on it. Write the
same subject a couple of times more from a different angle or with words not found in the first
one. Focus your "eye camera" and give texture, color, depth to your four lines. Is there a human
element that can be introduced? Do so.

Avoid repeats of the same expressions or words in the same paragraph or two, even the same
page. Use the Thesaurus to get the proper replacements. Avoid too many "and," "then," "just,"
"I," and many others that crawl endlessly in pursuit of writers.

A simple example: (my own)
First try: "The house stood on the hill. A road led to it. It was the start of summer."

Second try: "You had to lift your head to see the house perched at the top of the hill. The
gravel road had not been graded for years it reached to the front porch then circled to the back
yard. Spring was melting gently into summer, the grass could hope to stay green for some time."