7:38 a.m. — Atlanta
Hello everyone. You are well, I hope. Today we are going to write a poem that describes your own poems, through metaphor. Yes, I know, there are those among you straining to get to it and others who are looking for the door. Door people: trust me. If I can come up with metaphors, you can come up with metaphors. I even wrote a draft to show you. Don’t panic at the post’s length. I wrote the example three ways.
I first had the idea a few weeks ago and was going to offer this prompt the first week of April. It seemed appropriate. Then I realised it would be lost amongst the daily prompts and it occurred to me that it might even be better after April. The idea arrived as I listened to Jose Marti’s Guantanamera, where he writes:
My verse is light green
and it is flaming crimson (red)
my verse is a wounded stag (deer)
seeking refuge in the mountains.
You can use ‘poetry’ or ‘poems’ or ‘verse’. You can alternate the refrain, as Marti does, or repeat it every line as in Momaday’s ‘The Delight Song of Tsoai-talee‘, or, as I have, with no refrain. I give an example of each form, but for my metaphors, the first works better.
my poems are
one moment
a perigee moon
a still life with blue pitcher
the Jewish Cemetery in Prague
the elements
a metamorphosis
pressed leaves
fossil pathways
Icarus reaching for the sun
Icarus falling to the sea
the streets of Hong Kong
from the vine
mindgames
a storm, tornado, tsunami, wildfire
Lazarus arisen
a clean slate
the morning sun
a lifetime
*****
My poems are one moment
My poems are a perigee moon
My poems are a still life with blue pitcher
My poems are the Jewish Cemetery in Prague
My poems are the elements
My poems are a metamorphosis
My poems are pressed leaves
My poems are fossil pathways
My poems are Icarus reaching for the sun
My poems are Icarus falling to the sea
My poems are the streets of Hong Kong
My poems are from the vine
My poems are mindgames
My poems are a storm, tornado, tsunami, wildfire
My poems are Lazarus arisen
My poems are a clean slate
My poems are the morning sun
My poems are a lifetime
*****
My poems are a perigee moon
and they are the rising sun
My poems are a clean slate
and a still life with blue pitcher
My poems are the Jewish Cemetery in Prague
and they are Lazarus arisen
My poems are the elements
a storm, tornado, tsunami, wildfire
My poems are a metamorphosis
and they are mindgames
My poems are from the vine
and they are pressed leaves
My poems are fossil pathways
and the streets of Hong Kong
My poems are Icarus reaching for the sun
and they are Icarus falling to the sea
My poems are one moment
and they are a lifetime
Whichever form you choose (I am liking the third more and more for the way it reads), the work part is coming up with the metaphors. What are the things that your poems are, or are your poems? Use terms that make sense to you and you will find metaphors easier to deal with. Say you have a passion for quilting. Glance at the names of all the quilt designs you have crafted. Put in a deliberate order, would those work as metaphors?
How did I arrive at mine? In a slight panic, because my mind does not think metaphorically and I find metaphors excruciatingly difficult to come up with (getting easier though…), I was glancing through my poems looking for the one I wrote after Momaday’s. As I read through titles I had a Eureka moment when I realised the titles, or topics, would serve as my metaphors, with tweaking as needed. Bob’s your Uncle. Done.
Okay, not quite. I needed to get them into an order that made sense to me. Then I was done.
Have fun. Let your mind loose. If desperate, come up with one metaphor, or two or three, and write about it. If you decide, My poems are like snails nibbling lettuce leaves, well, then, tell us how and why. You will find that you have an extended metaphor.
Write. Post the link, so we can read your poem. Rough drafts always welcome. I shall see you Thursday for links; Friday for the roundup of the week’s prompts; and next Tuesday for a borrowed prompt.
Happy writing, all.












