“She watches the sun set.” The sun is “setting” on the horizon. Inherent in this imagery is the sun as a static, solid object in control of itself—it is doing the setting. What if the sun were a liquid? We could write, “The sun melts,” or “drips,” or “liquefies,” or “stains” the horizon. What if the sun were a gas? Perhaps it “dissipates” over the horizon, or “suffocates” it. Notice how quickly the tone of the poem changes from neutral (“the sun sets”) to threatening “the sun melts”—will it return tomorrow?) to deadly (“the sun suffocates the horizon”).
We think we know the color or colors of a setting sun, but let’s think as specifically as possible. For example:
She watches as
the yellow-orange sun
melts into spreading hues
of indigo and green,
staining the dusty blue sky.
Now our imagery creates a more complicated tone. The colors are radiant and beautiful, but the words “melts” and particularly “staining” carry threatening connotations of finality and danger. The sun is in control; “she” at this point merely observes.
These examples deal with only the sense of sight. Now let’s stretch our imagination even more. What does the sun smell like? What if the sun were cold instead of hot? What noise does a setting sun make?
How about:
She smells toasted air;
the sun burns the sky
from blue to brown.
Or:
She watches the icy sun in its
slow-motion crash;
shards of orange and purple
pierce the horizon.
Or:
She listened as the sun sang
a luscious tune in
mezzo-soprano before
waving a yellow goodbye.
By now you can see there is no end to the way imagery and the senses can be used in a poem. It all depends on the tone you wish to set.
Let’s get just a bit more picky with our description. “She watches” does not tell us very much about our subject. Maybe her eyes could be the subject:
Her eyes absorb
the melting orange sun.
Perhaps this:
Her eyes catch the shards
of purple and orange
breaking away from the
icy, orange sun.
Or this:
Her eyes melt to tears
to see the sun lower itself
from crystalline yellow
to orange-red
to purple-blue
to dusky brown
to starry nothing.
There are so many ways to “watch.” Which would you choose?