The Power of Similes and Metaphors

sim·i·le: a phrase that uses the words like or as to describe someone or something by comparing it with someone or something else that is similar.

met·a·phor: a word or phrase for one thing that is used to refer to another thing in order to show or suggest that they are similar

So says Merriam-Webster Dictionary. Nothing quite conjures up a mental image than comparing it to another mental image. Here's a few from Before the Blood:


Barrels of ice stood guard like evil henchmen.

Sitting on a stool at the foot of the casket and resting his head against its edge was Papa Everett, cane lying beside him like a loyal hound.

The words fluttered around John's head like moths around a kerosene lamp during a middle of the night trip to the outhouse.

John snapped the case shut. Mortimer slid off the desk and traipsed behind him, down the halls and into the main lobby, his shoes squeaking like a nest of mice across the waxed floor.

He stepped into the waiting carriage, leaving Mortimer to gape and stare like a hooked trout.

Head high, she turned on her heel and stalked out of the room. Herbert's mustache had a seizure.

He erupted like an unstable volcano as his fist banged the desk

Abbott stood as erect and immobile as the marble statues, but not nearly so tall.

In move reminiscent of St. Francis of Assisi, John stripped his garments, kicked them to his father's feet, and strode out of the room to a shocked Bryga, who quickly wrapped John in his cloak. No canticle of that great saint compared with the joyful song breaking forth in John's spirit as the carriage pulled out into the street, ready to embrace a leprous world.

Jackson, looking more like an overinflated air ship than a man approaching middle-age, removed the flask from inside his pocket and took a large gulp.