I'd say to jot down questions saving them till the end. It's not effective to ignore your own opinions and passively record because no one can effectively do this.
Poetry operates mainly on the connotation of words. Connotation is the emotional impact of words. For instance, there is a difference between friend and close acquaintance. In fact, there really is no such thing as a synonym. I've heard it said that we can count every word but make every word...