THE SAND

He discovered grains, definitely
an unlimited supply at the beach.

He brushed it from his feet
though it caught between toes
and around nails like a raspberry seed
between teeth, so he kept sanding.

Worried away Moro Bay, sunsets
birth, adolescence, graduation.

Kept trying to rid himself of the tiny
grains, an hourglass dropping time.
Unable to clear them all, he smoothed
the rough edges, like sandpaper.

     This is a free verse poem.  What images do you see in this poem?  today can you write your own poem that develops an image?  Have fun.

HOUR GLASS

the sand

drops

slowly

grain

by grain

never

to drop

again

toward

the end

sand begins

to spin

racing out

the narrow bend

of the hourglass

again

      I've always been fascinated by hourglasses and three minute timers.  Far more fascinated than shaking an watching snow globes.  Happy Sunday.  Someone once made the comment that the difference between prose and poetry, is that the poet gets to control the length of the line.  Wish I knew who said it, I'd give him credit.  But it is all about choices and the poet gets to make lots of them.  In this poem I made the choice not to use punctuation.  It wasn't laziness, but the poet's choice to emphasize the meaning of each word I have carefully selected to go with this subject matter.  But, even as I have gotten this far with the poem, I'm wondering if I could convey even more meaning with the metaphor, if I tried to make this into a concrete poem.

the gritty sand

drops slowly

grain by

grain

never

to drop

again

to-

ward

the end

the sand 

begins to spin

racing out the

narrow glass bend

of the hourglass again

    What do you think?  There is more tweaking to do, so I'm having fun.  There is so much work to do.

     I know, your challenge for today is to think of a tool you use and compare it to an animal to make your own metaphor.  Can you write a poem today with a simile or metaphor in it?