As you might have found with that last activity, sometimes it can be very difficult describing the big abstract emotions or things that we experience. Paradise, for example, means lots of different things to different people, and the point of poetry is to let the world know what it means for you in the most concrete, specific way you can. 

One way of doing this is using metaphors and similes to explore what an emotion might be like rather than trying to explain what it actually is. This forms a connection point for you with reader where they can understand where you are coming from better. One cliché around paradise is ‘Heaven is a place on earth’. I’ve always thought this was vague and boring.

So try this...

What happens when you replace the word ‘place’ with a food or drink and the world ‘earth’ with somewhere specific that means a lot to you. For example, mine would be:

Heaven is a lasagne in my Dad’s kitchen. 

Make a list of about 5 different sentences like this, all starting ‘Heaven is…’