Flower

The following is a poetry exercise I do with my creative writing class. I find pictures of several exotic flowers, and their job is to write an 8-line poem that is a series of metaphors describing that flower. At the end of class that day, we try to guess which poem goes with which flower picture. The goal is that we begin to notice detail and notice facets of nature that we otherwise would have overlooked; it's also helpful when teaching metaphors. Here's one I wrote tonight as a sample for my students tomorrow. I have no idea what kind of flower this is, but it is one of the most beautiful and creative pieces of nature I have ever seen.

FLOWER
A tie-dye t-shirt drying in dewey grass
An open eye with 80s blue mascara
An alien with three plum tentacles and a flowing skirt
A hot dog and kiwi picnic
A rocket at takeoff, spewing blue fire
A graceful tutu-ed octopus
An impractical speckled umbrella
Eight silver-green shovels with one unforgettable handle.