Poetry Tow Truck 30: Mix and Match

Quiet as a mouse. Proud as a lion. Sour as a lemon. Sweet as sugar. Blah, blah, blah. We’ve heard it all before. Clichés can be the bane of a writer’s existence. So today, we are going to make them work for us.

Make a list of clichés – try to have an even number. Or, go ahead and use the list provided below.

proud as a peacock

sour as a lemon

sweet as sugar

bright as the sun

quiet as a mouse

black as ink

white as snow

solid as a rock

Now, mix the beginnings and the endings of the clichés to create new similes. Go through the list more than once to get some that you like.

proud as ink

sour as snow

sweet as a peacock

bright as a mouse

quiet as a lemon

black as sugar

white as a rock

solid as the sun

These new images might be surprising (sour as snow), pleasant-sounding (sweet as a peacock), or even strange (proud as ink.) Choose one or several of these new images and use them as a basis for a new poem, maybe even a haiku or a small stone of observation.

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the sun rises

quiet as a lemon

in a blue glass bowl

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