Poetry Friday--"Things"

Not only do we have the need to name things, we also have to give things human-like features and emotions. This poem by Lisel Mueller explains it all:

Things

What happened is, we grew lonely
living among the things,
so we gave the clock a face,
the chair a back,
the table four stout legs
which will never suffer fatigue.

We fitted our shoes with tongues
as smooth as our own
and hung tongues inside bells
so we could listen
to their emotional language,

and because we loved graceful profiles
the pitcher received a lip,
the bottle a long, slender neck.

Even what was beyond us
was recast in our image;
we gave the country a heart,
the storm an eye,
the cave a mouth
so we could pass into safety.

Can you come up with some other examples besides the obvious corn and potatoes? I'll go first: pipes have elbows, wine has a nose, and power cords have a sex. Your turn...

The Poetry Friday Round-Up is being hosted this week at Wild Rose Reader. Do stop by.

--Diane

Clock photo by raysto.