Poem #11 -- Similies, Metaphors, and Idioms

Flickr Creative Commons Photo by Graham Canny

Crafty metaphor is a sly fox,

hiding in plain sight.

Simple simile is as easy as 1, 2, 3,

as obvious as your nose on your face.

Idioms run around 

like chickens with their heads cut off,

get down to brass tacks, and

hit the hay when they get tired.

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2011

Flickr Creative Commons Photo by NitroxAnyOne

Poem #3 -- Metaphor Poem (plus a Simile Book Review)

Mosaic Metaphors 

Moments, memories, mementos

Organized optic chaos, gridlocked visual clutter

Soundless soundtrack of days

Artistic arrangement of scraps: quilt of time

Incidents. Incidental. Incremental.

Catalog with pages missing

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2011

It took me three tries to make this acrostic do what I wanted it to do. It started out as an acrostic about the images, even though I titled it "Metaphor Acrostic" in my writer's notebook. Not a single metaphor. It was a fairly adequate acrostic, but it didn't do what I wanted it to do. I wanted metaphors that described a mosaic. The second try got closer, but it still tried to do what I require my students' acrostics to do (at least initially) -- SAY SOMETHING. I tried to give it narrative flow, so that it could be read aloud without the listener realizing (or needing to know) it was an acrostic. I like the third try, the one above, best. It is a just a series of phrases, but I worked really hard on my word choice, and I like the way alliteration decided to join the fun. 

This is a metaphor poem, even though I never say outright, "A mosaic is...", which I think makes it a more interesting poem. I imply the "A mosaic is...", trusting that the title will alert my reader to infer the meaning in my lines as they relate to the vertical word, "MOSAIC." Hopefully my March mosaic helps the reader visualize to construct meaning, too.

Speaking of the mosaic, don't you love how it starts out all blue and blooming and ends all white and frozen? "In Like a Lamb, Out Like a Lion."

Now for the simile book review.

My Heart is Like a Zoo

by Michael Hall (his website is here)

Greenwillow Books, 2010

review copy provided by the publisher

A metaphor is a way of comparing that says this thing IS that other thing. ("A mosaic IS a catalog with pages missing.") Similes compare by saying this thing IS AS _____ AS that other thing, or this thing IS LIKE that other thing.

My Heart is Like a Zoo is a simile poem that compares the speaker's heart to different animals in the zoo.

"My heart is like a zoo--

eager as a beaver,

steady as a yak,

hopeful as a hungry heron

fishing for a snack..."

Not only is this a delightful simile poem that compares the heart to twenty animals, all of the illustrations are composed of hearts!

Also reviewed by Katie at Creative Literacy
Betsy Bird reviews Michael Hall's new book, The Perfect Square, at A Fuse #8 Production

State Test Simile Poem

My students are

as confident as racehorses

in the starting gate.

Our teacher is

as nervous as a donut

in the teacher's lounge.

My students are

as sharp as a box of

#2 pencils.

Our teacher is

as hardworking as a house painter

with a one-inch brush.

On Wednesday afternoon,

we'll all be

as relieved as a gymnast

who sticks the landing.

by Mary Lee Hahn, copyright 2010

BONUS: NEW SIMILE BOOK IS AS PERFECT AS THE PETALS ON A PETUNIA!

Muddy As A Duck Puddle and Other American Similes

by Laurie Lawlor

illustrated by Ethan Long

Holiday House, 2010

review copy provided by the publisher

This book has it all -- it's an ABC book of 26 uniquely American similes, and there's an explanation for each one in the back of the book, including the part of the country from which it hails!

Here are a few from the book that can be used to describe an elementary school before the state tests: Our testing coordinators are "Busy as a stump-tailed cow in fly-time" trying to find spaces and translators and cds for all of the ELLs in our building -- students who speak Twi, Farsi, Arabic, Spanish, Korean, Bengali, and Russian. Our teachers are as "Jittery as a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs." We really, really need to meet AYP this year. No matter the outcome of the tests, we all believe that our students are just as "Fine as frog hair." These state tests are but ONE isolated measure of our students' growth this year, and no matter what the tests say, we know to the core of our collective being that our students have grown in their learning, understanding and knowledge this year. (Plus, we're not finished teaching after this week, so the learning will continue!!)