Write poem that is at once a story describing an image or event or memory. Be imaginative. Think Caterpillar of Birds. Be the blind man who thinks he is describing a snake but is actually describing an elephant. Draw more inspiration from metaphor and synecdoche.
“The Fish” by Elizabeth Bishop overtly describes the catching of a fish, but subtly describes the concept of choice, the wonder of the natural world, mortality, beauty, and more.
Example:
“Dropping a Plate While Washing Dishes”
I nearly caught it—
the plunge of dish from hand
frame by frame was frozen
as the slippery china slid,
still fleeced with shining bubbles,
from my gloves, and the wild waltz
of slippery fingers grasping
still failed to stop
its spiral to floor: one frame remains
still rendering in loops—
my heartbeat expanded into
throbs of meaty bass
the second when the runaway
nearly seemed suspended
above the unforgiving tile,
I stood staring like a friend
left behind on a train platform,
even after the floor burst
into a kaleidoscope, shreds
of blue glass.
~Constance