Poetry Prompt no. 3 - Metaphor

or a simile. A simile compares 2 or more things using "like" or "as" while metaphor compares things without using "like" or "as". 

She's as beautiful as a rose. Is a simile, comparing a woman to a rose, two rather different things, but similar in their beauty. 

Her beauty, a rose. Is a metaphor, not saying she's like a rose, but saying her beauty IS a rose. 

An exercise for you to try out, using metaphor or simile. 

Choose an emotion; happiness, sadness, love, hate, etc. 

and choose an object; soccer ball, laptop, notebook, park, etc. 

Start a poem with "[Emotion] is (like) a [object]" and write a few lines to explain how they're similar. Use like or as for a simile, or omit those for a metaphor and directly say the emotion IS the object. It may take a bit of thinking to get some ideas of how the two share some similarities. You can add more information to sell the similarities. Happiness is a box of popsicles...on a hot summer day. The time of year adds more detail and allows me to add something like ...gone too soon. 

Here's some examples I cooked up. 

Love is a waterfall 

beautiful from a distance 

but up close

it will drag me down 

and drown me

Or

Hate is like a rock 

I carry it with me

to throw and those who 

need to be punished 

I hold this rock long

after they're gone

Feel free to experiment with this prompt, and see what you come up with. Post your poems in the comments if you like.