No instructional technique has brought introductory students in literature at Tidewater Community College (Virginia) closer to the genuine in poetry than writing their way into a work, in particular, writing combined with individual and collaborative activities that engage multiple senses and establish learning communities. Adapting to a computer the letter-writing exchanges and collaborative composition techniques that were effective in non-electronic environments has brought about more thoughtfully considered responses. An example of this approach involves three students reading and responding to "I Knew a Woman" by Theodore Roethke. Students freewrote their individual responses, posed a question via email to the group, responded to another's question via email to the group, met to discuss orally their questions, write a short collaborative paragraph, and write a formal paper about the poem. (Excerpts from the transcript of the computer conference postings and excerpts from one student's final paper are attached.) (RS)