Ways to the Metaphor

Back in 2010, I conducted a workshop called "Ways to the Metaphor". I used a model by Patrick Lane, a Canadian Poet, (partner to Lorna Crozier).

The Metaphor Model by Patrick Lane

You want you to compare each member of your family. If you have five brothers and sisters of course that is too many, but make a choice & stick to your smaller family of mother, father and at least two siblings. eg.

My oldest brother is a wasp, cleaning his body on a bulrush above the pond’s still water. He is almost ready to take flight.

My sister is a small white stone in the clay pot by the kitchen fire. She is so still only the dark can find her.

My youngest brother is the first leaf on the wisteria vine in spring. Already he is thinking of winter the yellow he will become before he falls.

My father is the window box in winter. Everything is waiting for the first flowers to bloom in his wide hands, but where are the seeds, where are the spring rains?

Eventually you will have a poem, especially when you answer, in lines, what they think of you! Finally you write your own personal reply.

More to come...

Read More

Metaphors!

Read More

Poem for the Day - One Size Fits All

One Size Fits All

You know when you bring
your garment home
it isn't going to fit.
It fits your youngest daughter
of which you have one.
You take it back to the store.
Ask for a blouse, extra large.
They have one, in grey.
You want to write to China.
Tell them your measurements,
that you have never bathed
in the Yangtze, worked in
the paddy fields or
owned a rickshaw.

Read More