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finding good material for me means looking to recent arguements, conflicts, etc...in my life. If you get TNT, watch the ads where they talk about "what is drama?" They're cheesy as hell, but it's a good reminder of all the different ways that you can introduce a tension in to a story or poem. If you don't get TNT...i'll try to find as many as i can and post 'em. The core of that is that anything can be drama...
So thus with general source material, i reccomend talking to yourself. Take a few minutes to introduce yourself to a new character...trying to remember everything you can about this person's life. Work out tiny little details...things that add depth and soul to characters. introduce them to each other, and watch them argue, love, detach, or...any combination of the three.
another handy exercize is disguising reality. take a real event, and focus on what it meant to the people involved. tell the story as accurately as you can, leaving nothing out. Then rewrite, fresh or revising, that narrative so that it can't be recognized as that event. the goal is to be in as much control of the narrative, while still conveying the idea that the original did. Often times there is an idea you want to convey and you can't change it...and this gives you practice with changing everything else.
These are mostly short story tips, but some of it can be used for poetry...and of course, the most basic tip of all is to keep writing...
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