Weatherford’s tender poem inspired a lesson on simile. Simile: a comparison of two things using “like” or “as.”
Some famous similes are:
- “O my Luve is like a red, red rose / That’s newly sprung in June” — Robert Burns, A Red, Red Rose
- “I wandered lonely as a cloud / That floats on high o’er vales and hills” — William Wordsworth, I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud
- “Does it dry up / like a raisin in the sun?” — Langston Hughes, Harlem
Ms. Collins, 6th Grade
Joy is salty McDonald’s fries
Joy is like a bright sunny day
Joy is the texture of slime
Joy is surviving with dinosaurs, earthquakes, and meteor showers
Sadness is like a soggy leftover sandwich.
Throwing it away can do nothing
Sadness is like a thunderstorm.
You never know when it will end
Or if it will get louder.
Sadness is like a lonely selfie
It’s there, yet gone already.
Sadness is like a bird in a cage.
Why can’t I let go
Why can’t I be found
Sadness is all but one,
Joy.
Ms. McClain, 8th Grade Group Three
Happiness, Happiness is like the sun beating on your skin as you move.
Happiness makes you want to move and run
Happiness is like a dog running through the prairie, eyes wide open.
Like a cake that’s colors ignite the room, happiness shines
Happiness shines like the sun on everyone, not just the ones who need it most.
Happiness is the force that drives everyone. Happiness is the thing everyone wants and needs.
Happiness is everything.
Free is as free as a cake
Free is as amazing as a sunny day
Free is like a picture of a cool sunset
Free is like a cat
Ms. McClain, 7th Grade, Group One
Depression is like starvation
Always an empty plate
Depression is like the cold
you in the worst state
Depression is as bare as a black and white photo
Depression is like a place that you don’t want to go
But one day it’s gone like the rain clearing
And there is no more fearing
The child licks salty water
like a cat drinking out of a bowl
The child looks up at the cloud
like it’s crying
Because the cloud is crying
like it’s a flood that can’t stop
The child starts to feel heavy
Like elephants that are many
The child feels like mashed potatoes
All the child needs is to look up
into the sky and
find the sun on a cloudy day