If you want to learn how to write memorable, surprising images that will make readers think, followed by a sharp intake of breath, read Tomas Transtromer. Here are four examples from The Deleted World collection, and then one from The Great Enigma.
A storm from the north. It is the time of rowanberries.
Awake in the night he hears – far above the horned tree –
the stars, stamping in their stalls.
*
The child’s eyes grow wide in the dark
and the storm howls for him.
Both love the swinging lamps;
both are halfway towards speech.
*
The house feels its own constellation of nails
holding the walls together.
*
The tugboat is freckled with rust. What is it doing so far inland?
It’s a heavy burnt-out lamp, tipped over in the cold.
*
In day's first hours consciousness can grasp the world
as the hand grips a sun-warmed stone.
*
Of course, seeing how it's done doesn't necessarily make it any easier to do by oneself...
