Cheetah Poem

1. My skin is not perfect, flawed with dark spots.

2. My amber eyes watch you from tall green grasses.

3. My ears are sharp, my ears are soft.

4. My legs run 75mph and silently.

5. My fur flies at top speed.

6. But you?

7. You- who, who, who might you be?

8. You- whose beak resembles the talons on your feet.

9. You- with your pristine feathers so ruffled.

10. You- who, who, who have no idea I’m here.

11. You- with your eyes so large,

12. You- whose eyes meet mine at the last moment.

13. The last moment before survival of the fittest wins.

14. You- the Prey.

15. Me- the Predator.

 

Lines one and eight are allusions. For line one, I thought of the Clinique commercial with the spotted egg that was made to be smooth and one color by using the makeup. They referred to black dots as “dark spots,” so I referenced that in this line. The beak in line eight looks curved, kind of like a talon. I referenced the appearance of the beak to the talons on the feet in this line.

Line two is an example of visual imagery. The way it’s worded makes you see an image of a cheetah with amber eyes poking through tall green grasses. I thought it sounded kind of neat as well… but maybe that’s just me.

Line three is an example of an antithesis. The ears are both sharp and soft, which contradict each other. They are sharp because of their ability to hear sounds so clearly while others cannot hear them hardly at all, and soft because of their physical feeling.

Line four contains a zeugma: “run.” Not only do the legs run at 75mph, but they also run silently.

Line five personifies fur flying, even though it’s not possible for fur to fly on its own.

Lines six and ten-fifteen are fillers. They just needed to be there… mostly because I thought they should be there for dramatic effect.

Lines seven and nine use diction. Both of these lines contain “who, who, who” which gives insight as to which animal is the predator in this poem. (The predator was an owl, in case you didn’t get it).

Line eight was an oxymoron between “pristine” and “ruffled.” When I think of something that is pristine, I think of it as very clean and perfect, not at all ruffled or out of place.

Lines 1-5 contained an anaphora, as well as lines 7-12. The first set of lines all began with “My” something. The second set of lines all began with “You-”something. Line six and fifteen were just oddballs and weren’t cool enough to be anaphoras.

 

(456 words)