Analysis of When we all grow up
When we all grow up
If you’ve ever driven on I-20 in Atlanta, in the mornings,
you know that it can be a nightmare,
bumper to bumper traffic, on this brisk day,
as I head into my office,
post covid, working a hybrid schedule, which is fine by me.
Although if I had my way,
I would just work from home.
As I sat in traffic, with the radio turn to NPR,
in the background,
depending on my mood sometimes,
it will be on WCLK, the jazz station.
To my right there is construction going on, as I glanced up,
the amber glow of the tree tips came into view.
I used to drink coffee, but now just herbal tea, but
I didn’t have a cup in the car this morning.
A drive that would normally take thirty minutes, during
normal days, will take me forty-five minutes, sometimes,
an hour.
But the drive allows me to hear the stories of real people,
dealing with real issues, in a real world from
across the American landscape and of course
internationally.
Somedays, I will ride in silence, loss in my on
thoughts and imagination.
On this day, as I listen to the stories shared on NPR,
the thought occurred to me, in the form of a question.
What do people really want? Most of us want more money,
more time with family and friends, more freedom, and yes more sex,
yeah, more sex, if you don’t
then you don’t know what you’re missing.
But I digress, in a world beset, with all sorts of problems,
from poverty, sadness, hopelessness, war, homelessness,
and despair.
My wife and I often say that everyone has a story,
imagine, if we took the time, to listen to each other’s,
stories, what kind of world it could be.
As my mind came out of its state of solitude, and meditation,
and I was brought back to my drive along I-20.
In that instant, a second question came to me,
What kind of people we could be?
When we all grow up.
Scheme | A xbcdecxfxghaxxiigxxxxexhfhexcixdbexehxeeA |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11111 1110101100100010 11111101 10110101111 11101110 11100101011111 111111 111111 111010101011111 001 01011101 111110110 111110101011111 010110111011 1111101111011 11101001110 01111001101010 1011111011001 110 101011110101110 10111000111 01001001011 01000 11110101011 100010 1111110101011111 0101110011010 11101011111110 111100011100111 111111 11111110 110100101111110 1100101001100 001 11011011101010 010111011101110 101111111 111111111100010 01111111011 011001010111 11110111 11111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,832 |
Words | 380 |
Sentences | 16 |
Stanzas | 2 |
Stanza Lengths | 1, 41 |
Lines Amount | 42 |
Letters per line (avg) | 33 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 691 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 172 |
About this poem
I wrote this poem, after my morning drive into the office, while stuck in traffic. I allowed me to drive in silence and reflect while listening to NPR.
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"When we all grow up" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 12 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/175726/when-we-all-grow-up>.
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