Poetic similes and metaphors

They are just ungainly analogies.

The writing on the wall says Belshazzar.

The poets' gold turned to brass by alchemy.

Describing Guardsmen erect in their ranks

stood like the contents of a vesta box.

Or a prostitute on the street corner.

A marina where men sail up and dock.

A cloud is a cloud, however lonely.

Child of a man is still a girl or boy.

A poem is a poem, understood.

Just verse concocted, a poetic ploy.

Exhausted by untruth and pretension,

Readers are soon repulsed by what they read.

Only those other pretentious poets.

Find metaphor or simile in need.