This next exercise will help you generate interesting comparisons that you can build a poem around.
1. Take your favourite book out
2. Flip to a random page
3. Close your eyes
4. Point at a word
5 .Repeat this exercise until you have pointed at 5 nouns
6. Take any 2 nouns to fill in the following blanks:
A(n) _______ (noun 1) is like a(n) _________ (noun 2)
Because these are random, they will probably not be alike at all! This is where you have to think creatively about ways that they can be similar to one another.
7. Continue this statement:
A(n) _______ (noun 1) is like a(n) _________ (noun 2) because ________ (explanation)
For example, you could talk about how a vacuum cleaner is like a dog because uou have to take it out to "walk" it regularly, like a dog.
8. Develop the idea more fully.
You could also think about how it always has its mouth open ready to swallow anything that's on the floor. You could also think about an automatic robot vacuum cleaner that scoots across the floors like a dachshund or terrier on short, stumpy little legs, hungry for sustenance. Or that gets stuck on steps and makes high-pitched whining noises when it can't get to where it wants. Or compare the way it moves forward then backwards and then forwards again in order to dock properly into its charging station to the way that your family's dog turns around and around before it snuggles into its bed at night. Finally, you can make the point that you see the vacuum cleaner as part of the family - it seems so alive, and has so much personality, just like a pet dog.
By now, you should have enough material to write a poem that compares these two unlike objects!
Gifted Education Branch, MOE, 2017