"Concrete poetry is poetry in which the typographical arrangement of words is as important in conveying the intended effect as the conventional elements of the poem..." ~Wikipedia

Visual poetry, also known as concrete poetry, is fun to write because you have colors, textures, and words all at your power to manipulate. You've probably seen visual poetry before, where a poem is written in the shape of what it describes, like "Pyramids":

                    A
               glimmer
         of hope through
      the heat, that simple
  materials in simple shapes
can stand as skyscrapers fall.

It's a start, but as a visual poet you've got way more power than this.

Font - Finally, after years of 9 pt. Arial (or whatever it is that DA uses), you can choose your font. Pick one that reflects the mood of the poem. If you're writing an elegant poem, pick a fancy slanted script like Harlow Solid Italic or Blackadder ITC. Writing new-age or cyber poetry? Century Gothic, SimSun, or OCR A Extended all have nice code-y looks. If you want it to look like it was written on a typewriter, written by a child, written in a hurry, etc., there is a font for you. You can even go for the collage look by making different words in different fonts (perhaps depending on the tone of the word). "Pyramids" would probably be in a very square, bold font to make the words look like blocks.

But here's the thing: You don't need to use computer fonts if you don't want to. Think about this for a second: You can submit any document or picture filetype. Even photographs. So you can write the poem on a piece of paper in your own handwriting, or whatever made-up font you desire, then take a photo of it and upload.

P.S. It is now possible to submit writing in PDF files to DA! Don't count them out as a medium for visual poetry!

Color - What's the mood of your poem? Is it sad, or "blue?" Excited as bright pink or red? Warning of something dangerous like bright red or yellow? Off-beat like puke green? Happy like yellow or light blue? If your poem describes something, make the words or the background the color of what it describes. For example, the words of "Pyramids" would be a golden-yellow color like the bricks of a real pyramid. The background might be blue like the sky.

You could also make different words different colors. To really enhance meaning, make the whole poem one color except for the words you really want to emphasize, and make them a different color.

Texture and Other Effects - What a poem is written on can say a lot - the mood or location of the poet as he or she writes, and how quickly or inconveniently inspiration came. You can write your poetry on a crumpled-up piece of paper, a cocktail napkin, the margin of an invitation or other document, the back of your hand, even a wall or window. Some of these effects can be produced through painstaking Photoshop/other graphics editor work, but photographing them is easier.

Is the paper stained? Does it have a spot of Russian dressing (for a poem written at a deli), dirt (for a sports poem), blood (for a medical or violent poem), or teardrops (a sad poem)?

Want to really emphasize something? Write it in 3-D.

As you can see, there are so many different ways you can control and enhance the meaning above and beyond what the words say. By the way, even though there's no gallery for it, visual prose is just as cool. Happy creating.