In honor of National Poetry Month, this week's writing exercise focuses on figurative language, and on metaphors and similes in particular. Inspired by an exercise provided by Linnea Johnson in The Practice of Poetry (edited by Robin Behn and Chase Twichell), this writing exercise consistently has a positive effect, both on my students' writing and my own. Even if you don't get a poem out of it, you may find that it causes you to focus on language in a different way when you go back to prose. (And for additional fun with figurative language, test your knowledge with the figurative language quiz.)