Analysis of Fifty Poem



My ordered states are falling from me
scattered out into a slow drift from what might have been
and what once reflected back

I am more empty spaces and unfinished things
between the minutes
and days that give in far too soon to shadow

I linger between irony and detachment
paddling in the dark, convoluted air of a long pause
catching only my breath

And somehow
I’ve become more scent than succulence
Or is it more gesture than squawk?

Sitting on my bed
alone
far too gone to begin a prayer
and much too long out of love for poetry.


Scheme AXX BXX XXX XBX XXXA
Poetic Form
Metre 110111011 1010101111111 0110101 111101000101 01010 0111011111 110011000010 10000110011011 101011 01 1011111 11111011 10111 01 11110101 01111111100
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 540
Words 107
Sentences 2
Stanzas 5
Stanza Lengths 3, 3, 3, 3, 4
Lines Amount 16
Letters per line (avg) 27
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 86
Words per stanza (avg) 20

About this poem

Aging, mortality, humility and entropic principles.

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Written on May 17, 1971

Submitted by compass13masc on July 06, 2022

Modified on March 05, 2023

32 sec read
9

James Robertson

American Poet and staunch advocate of idiocy. more…

All James Robertson poems | James Robertson Books

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