Men and women who suffer from varicose veins will find the health problem to be anything but poetic. The unsightly appearance of the veins, the physical health problems that the veins could be a sign of and the pain of having the veins make it so that varicose veins are something that we only speak about in negative terms.
But if you've ever scanned through the way that the term "varicose veins" is used in writing, you'll see that it's something that is often used as a simile compared to other things that have nothing to do with veins or health. Some of these descriptions are used to express ugliness and some to express beauty but either way the comparison is to the network of veins that one might see on his or her own legs.
Here are a few examples of this:
- The cramped master bath had a pink vanity and tiles that "looked like varicose veins," Doug says. "I like color, but this was blotchy." (source)
- Lightning scribbled like long yellow varicose veins running up the massive legs of some angry old god. Thunder roared and then smacked like someone slamming the dark ledger of eternity. (source)
- An Anglican church is as threatened by fumes as by the local radicals, and traffic jams are the city's varicose veins. (source)
You may want to get your own varicose veins removed but at least know that they have served as inspiration for a number of poetic writers!
Question of the Day: What are the best similes out there which use varicose veins to describe something else?
