Poetry was used in a college English class to teach figurative language, connotation, denotation, and the need for close attention to vocabulary. However, students were often bored by traditional poetry. Using computer programs like "Compupoem,""Poetrywriter,""Lifesongs," and "Haikuku," students were introduced to computer poetry and created their own poetry. Students' reactions were enthusiastic and they often became more interested in studying the poetry of others. Some other programs that have been or could be used in beginning college English courses are "The Shakespeare Library," which--among other things--provides an on-screen color-coded chart of the interrelationships of characters in any one of the 37 plays, and "LITterms: A Tutorial for Enjoying Literature," which provides many different ways for students to learn literary terms using colors and graphics. It seems that most students like computers for writing, learn from well-written computer assisted instruction (CAI) lessons, and can be inspired by programs such as "Poetrywriter" and "Compupoem" to think about and then try to write poetry. (Examples of computer generated poetry are appended.) (SRT)