Pat Mora’s poem “Ode to Teachers” appeared in a 2010 collection entitled Dizzy in Your Eyes. This simple, gentle poem is written in the first person and expresses a long-lasting appreciation for a teacher’s encouragement of classroom participation by a shy child. The narrator remembers this life-changing experience with great fondness and writes, “I carry your faith inside.” The teacher's validation of the child's efforts allowed the young student to blossom and develop self-confidence.

As for the question of whether this poem is an extended metaphor, I do not see it that way. A metaphor is a literary device that compares two unlike things for effect and meaning without the use of the words “like” or “as.” For example, “his heart was a rock,” is a metaphor. An extended metaphor carries the literary device further and extends it into a series of lines or even into an entire poem. A great example is Emily Dickinson’s poem “Hope is the Thing with Feathers.” Hope envisioned as a bird is an idea that encompasses the entire short poem.

“Ode to Teachers,” is a narrative poem in free verse with imagery and a number of similes, but I do not understand it to be an example of an extended metaphor.