SPRING EVENING AT THE DOG PARK « April Halprin Wayland

SPRING EVENING AT THE DOG PARK
by April Halprin Wayland

Warm yellow light
spills over all of us,
dogs and humans.

A black setter, a tan lab and my own goofball
whirl around the park
like speed skaters in a roller rink.

Wildly happy eyes,
tongues flying behind
like pink flags,

long legs flying,
Eli in the lead.
Here they come!

Where’d they go?
Then—
bam!

I wake in dust,
open my eyes to faces
partly blocking a softening sky.

Exhuberant dogs
took me out at the knees;
I stay down for a few more minutes

to make the ground
stop waving;
the roll of an earthquake.

Someone
hands me my glasses…
then a dusty lens.

Someone
asks if I know my name
I do

I laugh
because I know
my goofball’s name, too.

Poetry Prompt: I love metaphors in poetry–in all literature–and don’t use enough of ‘em. So I made a point to stretch my brain and include metaphors in this poem (speed skaters and pink flag.) I find that if I’m tired, I can’t seem to find metaphors. A good night’s sleep and they come more easily.

It’s your turn. Describe a scene and include metaphors. Break up the lines into short stanzas. Eliminate as many “the”s and “and”s as you can. Does it feel like a poem?