SPRING EVENING AT THE DOG PARK
by April Halprin Wayland
Warm yellow light
spills over all of us,
dogs and humans.
A black setter, a tan lab and my own goofball
whirl around the park
like speed skaters in a roller rink.
Wildly happy eyes,
tongues flying behind
like pink flags,
long legs flying,
Eli in the lead.
Here they come!
Where’d they go?
Then—
bam!
I wake in dust,
open my eyes to faces
partly blocking a softening sky.
Exhuberant dogs
took me out at the knees;
I stay down for a few more minutes
to make the ground
stop waving;
the roll of an earthquake.
Someone
hands me my glasses…
then a dusty lens.
Someone
asks if I know my name
I do
I laugh
because I know
my goofball’s name, too.
Poetry Prompt: I love metaphors in poetry–in all literature–and don’t use enough of ’em. So I made a point to stretch my brain and include metaphors in this poem (speed skaters and pink flag.) I find that if I’m tired, I can’t seem to find metaphors. A good night’s sleep and they come more easily.
It’s your turn. Describe a scene and include metaphors. Break up the lines into short stanzas. Eliminate as many “the”s and “and”s as you can. Does it feel like a poem?