Examples of Effective Description

These descriptions are from Gary Soto’s A Summer Life, from the story “The Taps.” Soto’s writing provides examples of using description and imagery in a short story.
“A passenger train the color of spoons rushed by.”
“The asphalt was a soft, blackish river on which cars traveled, windows down, the passengers soaked in sweat.”
“A man the color of a sparrow walked near the tracks.”