Pick a poem and write your own short poem modeled after it, using at least one simile or metaphor or some of both. Before you write it, think about what kind of commentary you’d want to make through your poem, how you would structure it, and what similes and metaphors you would use.

The unkempt room, dusty and disused

the exiguous perfume concealed in the books

the blinking of the alarm clock, jammed printer

the cell-phone, the incessant deep sleep

the dated OED flashing on the screen

the desk, cluttered with stacks of old prints.

The black cat lies between my cold feet

the long blank night, mute mind.

After the chirp of the cuckoo clock

an eerie silence fills the still room.

The cat stares at my mute face

her paws pressing the fallen ballpoint.

My wife comes in, looks at a piece,

the last line, the scribbled words and searches

in vain for a clue; she walks over a dossier

of unfinished work, a chapbook.

The clotted arteries bring no life to the brain.

Thoughtless and cold, it is held taut in a bony

box; totally vanished are the stored images

past memories, phrases and metaphors.

On the day I die my incomplete works

are my orphans; forlorn, they are lifeless,

never to be redacted or groomed, lacking

the author, they are squashed into the files.

The cat circles the room, rubs my cold feet,

pauses, stares at the chair, at drooping hands

wants some nibbles, waits to hear my response,

voice, mesmerized by my ashen face.

Explanation: