One poem = one image (most haikus)
One poem = multiple images (list poem)
One poem = multiple images and multiple senses (Trish Shihikura and Dennis Aguinaldo)
Metaphor is still image. You use image to help readers see another image better, especially when that image eludes description. For example, you won’t understand my depression symptom. But if I say brain fog or brain zap, you might understand it.
To get better with images, practice writing poems filled with them.
Some exercises:
- Write a poem from a photograph. Try to use images only.
- Write a two-line poem with two images and the poem is a simile.
- Write a poem that is an extended simile.
- Write a poem that is an extended metaphor.