METAPHOR/SIMILE POEM-20 pts, Homework/Quizzes
Due Date
______
Use the model below to create a poem with:
 10-12 lines, at least 75 words with some detail and complexity.
 An imitation of the form below or an original variation of it.
 Strong similes and metaphors = a comparison of two UNLIKE things. They should be surprising,
interesting, and tell things about you.
 Interesting vocabulary choices
 Has a unified description of one part of your personality. Doesn’t contradict or show many
different parts of your personality.
Use ideas from the list below and come up with your own:
An animal
A color
An age
A place
A feeling
A food
A holiday
A man-made object or an abstract noun
Something in nature
Finish with a creative final line that wraps up the ideas and sums up yourself.
Example:
Chartreuse
I am like a giggling seven-year-old, annoying all the adults
I am like the laugh that turns into a snort.
I am chartreuse.
I am a package of Sour Babies, the candy that makes your mouth pucker.
I am like small town democracy where everyone votes.
I am like a carnival where you can ride a roller coaster and eat cotton candy until your stomach hurts.
I am as loud as the fourth of July.
I am the cold water of Puget Sound. You want to walk in but it’s just too cold.
On the African savannah, I am like the baby giraffe clumsily trying to use long legs.
Or the elephant trampling on small trees and scaring the smaller animals even though it doesn’t mean it
I am noisy, silly and enthusiastic for life.
Barb Lachman
FIGURE OF SPEECH POEM- SCORING GUIDE
Below Standard
0-13
 Many mistakes in
similes and metaphors
 Too short
 Many distracting
errors
Approaching Standard
14-15
 Might be dull or
incorrect use of similes
and metaphors
 May be a little too short
 Some distracting errors
in conventions and
grammar
Meets Standard
16-17
 May tell different sides
of personality
 Interesting & correct
similes and metaphors
 Correct length
 Minor errors in
conventions and
grammar
Exceeds Standard
18-20
 Unified description of
one side of personality
 Vivid & correct similes
and metaphors
 Correct length
 Few errors in
conventions and
grammar
“I AM” POEMS (short examples)
Neon Lane
I am like a hippo crunching on a pumpkin.
I am tickle me pink or neon lane.
I am like a grinning six-year-old with granola bar bits
between her teeth.
I am a salad dripping with vinegar.
I am as sweet as Christmas.
I am as the the willow tree that shakes in the wind.
I am the bird that flies south to see the world.
I am like the future.
I am the hidden grave in the woods where the rush of cars
dies away to the brush of trees.
I am as frustrating as that feeling in the morning where you
can almost grasp your dreams with the tips of your fingers
before they trickle away like water.
I am as the vivid sunset that rests behind the trees for you
to notice.
And you probably know me.
I am dark as the bottom of the sea.
I am as ageless as all of history.
I am a secret cove.
I am icy, frozen like the forgotten depths.
I am a cool mountain lake, bordered by warm wind and
black sky.
I am as empty as the void of Eternity.
I am almost sad.
I am a tomcat, sleeping with one eye open
I am a forest, seemingly peaceful until you glimpse the
glowing eyes of the fleeting panther.
I am as the feeling of air just after a secret has been
whispered into it.
I am like melting chocolate, the silk concealing the sword,
an iceberg.
I am seemingly harmless, slinking pale, quiet beauty
hiding the possibility of a storm.
I am like a chicken without a head, running around
squirting its blood on you.
I am a fetus, wondering where the womb went
I am like hissing emptiness.
I am the mold eating your bread (and it tastes good)
I am mismatched socks.
I am the sudden, heavy rain coming in the middle of the
day.
I am as the last line of this poem, disjointed and unfinished
with
Comfort
I am like a cute and cuddly dog, willingly waiting for
someone’s attention and affection
I am as a soothing as light pink.
I am a sandy beach on a warm summer’s day, with waves
gently crashing, crashing, crashing on the shore.
I am a heap of hot mashed potatoes with gravy on top that
your mom makes for you when you’re feeling lousy.
I am a soft, snowy Christmas morning.
I am a hammock in your backyard, longing for someone to
lie on me.
I am a steady but slow moving creek, cool in the shade of
the forest.
And I am patient, always there for others.
Curmudgeon
I’m a loud thunderbolt that comes down unnoticed.
I’m like a shellfish without a shell.
I’m as hard to catch as a leak in the gas pipe.
I’m a mosquito in the summer. The kind you want to slap
down.
I am a condescending snake hissing bitter sarcasm,
I am a forgotten prisoner in a bare stone jail cell,
I am that flutter I the depths of your soul.
I am like a doll’s lifeless eyes.
I am the shadow of the moon.
And I sit here deprived like a boulder, while everything
around it rots.
I am like a monkey flinging fruit at fellow monkeys,
I am as clever as a 600-year-old wizard, casting spells to
defend the light side, but conjuring up mischief on the
weekends,
I am Mt. Olympus when Zeus is in a good mood.
I am as silly as laughing at the not-funny parts of movies
in the crowded theater.
I am as peaceful as a lone elk grazing in a field.
I am a forgotten mother whose children don’t call on
holidays.
I am like the quiet street without lamp poles.
I am the lost civilization buried deep within the ground,
never to be discovered or dwelled upon again.
I am like the tropical storm hovering closer and closer
taunting the land, threatening to strike.
I am not here, but my presence is known.