The role of poetry to promote critical thinking in the EFL classrooms has been evident. Students who reach this thinking stage are believed to be creative and autonomous. The good thing is that they can finally write their own poems and become a student-poet, either in their native language or second language they are learning. Through this present study, 21 graduate students from one of universities in Malang told their stories when they took English Literature course for a semester. The findings of the study contain a collection of students’ written experiences and opinions on how poetry could establish their autonomy and creativity, as well as help them find their identity. The results indicate that some students believe that they have been given an opportunity to work independently through analyzing poems and creating ones. They admitted that their motivation in learning English literature has also increased and they have found themselves engaged in the activities. They could finally produce nice and creative poems at the end of the semester.