Analysis of Payment Due
John Jessup Kennan 1953 (Pomona)
White-face vaudevillian clown
Snow White garbed in gothic gown
Go wish upon
Your bright and mourning star
With a flick of the regal royal wrist
You are summarily dismissed
To the meaninglessness
You should alredy know you are
Your knees are bruised, and yet you crawl
Along the hallowed holy halls
Where you have heard the siren call
To purchase the redemption that she sells
Statues crumble where they fall
Marble pillars, porcelain dolls
The pale angel, the great, the small
In the Temple where your Higher Powers dwell
Dead long enough to lose its blue
White as a corpse, the soul unmoved
Emotes so dull out of her skull
Feasts upon extorted kiss
Blood drips from tips of fangs, imbue
The heavenly mouth of an angel you knew
Accounts received the tithes of thieves
Payment due for sacrificial bliss
Your knees are bleeding, yet you crawl
Along the hallowed holy halls
Where you have heard the siren call
To purchase the redemption that she sells
Statues crumble where they fall
Marble pillars, porcelain dolls
The pale angel, the great, the small
In the Temple where your Higher Powers dwell
Mannequin armies' robotic feet
March to funerals three-quarter beat
Sing her praises in the street
In tribute pay, no questions asked
She's pedigreed, immune from germs
Takes you to task, dicates all terms
Pay no attention to the worms
Gothic angel in the Snow White mask
Your knees are calloused, yet you crawl
Along the hallowed holy halls
Where you have heard the siren call
To purchase the redemption that she sells
Statues crumble where they fall
Marble pillars, porcelain dolls
The pale angel, the great, the small
In the Temple where your Higher Powers dwell
Fleeting moments soon are gone
The sacred heart she snacks upon
Has sought salvation from the one
Who can't be saved
Shining visions have drawn her blind
Candles burning down the shrine
Escape the mystery of light
Find redemption long before the grave
Your healing knees no longer crawl
Along the hallowed holy halls
Where you have heard the siren call
To purchase the redemption that she sells
Statues crumble where they fall
Marble pillars, porcelain dolls
The pale angel, the great, the small
In the Temple where your Higher Powers dwell
© John Kennan January 2015
Scheme | aabcddec fEFEFEFG hxxehhee fEFEFEFG iiixeeex fEFEFEFG xbxxxxxx fEFEFEFG x |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Tetractys (20%) |
Metre | 110101 1110101 1101 110101 1011010101 11010001 101 111111 11110111 01010101 11110101 1100010111 110111 10101001 01100101 00101110101 11011111 11010101 1111101 1010101 11111101 01001111011 01010111 10110101 11110111 01010101 11110101 1100010111 110111 10101001 01100101 00101110101 10010101 111001101 1010001 01011101 110111 1111111 11010101 101000111 11110111 01010101 11110101 1100010111 110111 10101001 01100101 00101110101 1010111 01011101 11010101 1111 10101101 1010101 01010011 101010101 11011101 01010101 11110101 1100010111 110111 10101001 01100101 00101110101 110100 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 2,166 |
Words | 383 |
Sentences | 1 |
Stanzas | 9 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 1 |
Lines Amount | 65 |
Letters per line (avg) | 28 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 202 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 43 |
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"Payment Due" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 8 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/100731/payment-due>.
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