Numbers Without Words
Lawrence S. Pertillar 1947 (Connecticut)
A picture can paint a thousand words.
Or less.
Unless...
That picture to paint it,
By numbers and no words.
Creates a disturbance,
Heard from those...
Participating in a group activity.
As instructed.
Each is given a number.
With a specific color.
To eventually piece together.
A clear and true representation,
Of the United States of America.
However...
Disagreements and heated,
Arguments between them start.
You see...
None will agree,
That the picture is what it should be.
Since...
The appearance of it,
Is too colorful.
And...
Not completely white.
'Stop it!
Stop this nonsense.
If that picture seen,
Was completely white.
How would any of you determine,
It was the United States?'
'Well...
Suppose there was a wall,
Around what it is.
Giving us the freedom...
To imagine where it is and could be.
If we did our best to convince,
Ourselves and everybody else?'
'This project...
Could not have been made,
More simpler than it is.
And you prefer a painted wall,
Surrounding a blank empty space?
What sense does that make?
And...
Who would know,
If it is the United States or not?'
'That's a very good question.
Not even our elected politicians,
Would know that answer!'
'Well...
Maybe they should be the ones,
To show us where it is.
To help us define,
How it should look.
Before that wall is painted!
And...
Who is kept within it.
And why others are left out!
Either way...
Wouldn't that make the white of it,
More restricted to limits?
'This is a project!
Not a debate.
Where do you people come from?'
'It's just a guess.
By I would say...
Our parents!?
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Submitted by lpahtillah on May 17, 2021
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:23 min read
- 7 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | abbcaxxd efffgx fex dddhcxIj cxxjgx Klmndhx oxmlxxIxx gpf KpmxxeIcxqcx oxn bqx |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic trimeter |
Characters | 1,492 |
Words | 279 |
Stanzas | 11 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 6, 3, 8, 6, 7, 9, 3, 12, 3, 3 |
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"Numbers Without Words" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 21 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/100251/numbers-without-words>.
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