Analysis of SUNSET

Ken Bartlett 1934 (Leominsterr Mass)



That day was like all the others; sisters were teased
by their brothers. The postman's delivery pleased.
Old maids peeked out windows.  Crows squawked.
Traffic goes too slow.  The young walk.  The old talk.

Gus climbed three flights of rickety stairs to his room.
Inside the air was stale, light dim, the floor in need of a broom.
Nicotine-stained fingers meted instant coffee into a cup.
While the water heated, Gus rolled a joint and lit it up.

That night storms rolled in disrupting phone reception.
Electric power was on and off.  There was no exception.
The next day things were better, and routines were resumed.
It was several days later when Gus was exhumed.

He sat with elbows on his table, unable to shout.
Coffee had spilled, the joint had fallen and gone out.
Facing a blank wall in the hall, Gus did not seem upset.
He quietly embraced his last roundup and eternal sunset.


Scheme AAAX BBCC DDEE FFGG
Poetic Form Quatrain  (75%)
Metre 111110101001 11100101001 11111011 10111011011 111111001111 010111110101101 101101010100101 10101011010111 111100101010 010101101111010 0111010001001 111011011101 1111111001011 101101110011 10011001111101 11000111100101
Closest metre Iambic heptameter
Characters 921
Words 174
Sentences 20
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 16
Letters per line (avg) 44
Words per line (avg) 10
Letters per stanza (avg) 174
Words per stanza (avg) 40
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Written on October 06, 2022

Submitted by compostken on October 06, 2022

Modified on April 25, 2023

52 sec read
11

Ken Bartlett

retired forester residing in a continuing care home in Lancaster, PA with his wife of 59 years more…

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