In this class we will examine some of the more challenging and unusual metaphors that contemporary poets have used to bring their poems to life. We will discuss how to choose between simile and metaphor, how to control and extend an image, and how to avoid making comparisons that are sentimental or clich?d. There will be a writing exercise designed to challenge our image-making powers and time to examine the effectiveness of the similes and metaphors in the poems that participants bring to class.