COMPETITION METAPHOR POEM

PROMPT: Write a metaphor riddle using clues such as imagery and figurative language to guide the reader.

INSTRUCTIONS: Fill in the blank with your guess for each metaphor poem’s title. The answers are listed upside down underneath each poem.

1st PLACE

Runnerup

BY WILL AHRENS, 9

They pull me out of the box

And tear me away from my friends

Then soak me in boiling water

Until I meet my end

Then pull me out by my string

And throw me in the bin

That dark and scary place

Where all the other corpses live

Then add the milk and sugar to my blood

Then sip my remains with their pinkies up

ANSWER: TEA BAG

BY MARCO CALIA, 9

I’m always being pummeled

For 90 minutes straight

I tumble around a vast green sea

Splatting into metal bars and heads

Getting trapped in a binding white net

For the enjoyment of my abusers

Then being thrown in a bag

With many other Dalmatian-spotted me’s Only to be kicked back out with a deafening chirp

ANSWER: SOCCER BALL

BY SEAN KING, 9

With its deep, wide stomach and gaping jaws, it is always hungry for more It can’t talk, but it still cries out For some kind passerby To give it food

Waiting in silence to be fed With the dregs of the world

ANSWER: :STAPLER

BY OWEN TERRY, 9

I sit still all day and night until you turn my head. I spit to keep you alive, Or to keep your things clean. When your stomachs can’t take any more, My stomach takes the rest, And I digest it loudly.

ANSWER: SINK

BY PEYTON CHUI, 9

A mechanical alligator sits on a desk

Under pressure it shows its metal teeth

Sinking them into its prey

Before opening its mouth once again

ANSWER: STAPLER

BY ALEA BUDGE, 9

Plastered on the wall it waits

Nothing moves except for its three long fingers. The red finger dances around in circles, never stopping The long black finger glides slowly as if on an ice skating rink, The short black finger trudges through a thick blizzard for hours.

As the fingers move in circles across the white stage they run into black painted figures. The show never ends though, They just keep dancing.

ANSWER: CLOCK

BY LULU DIFFENBAUGH, 9

I sit on the silver stand, still and silent but my friend Ms. Summers keeps me useful all day long. My kids leave me open and my brain slowly fades away, my mind leaking from my skull like a pool of blood, but Ms. Summers always finds my top hat and places it gently back on my head.

ANSWER: WHITE BOARD MARKER