Forced Perspective
Forced Perspective
By Xiaoyuan Yin
You stated
That landscapes on postcard and plates
Are lithographs of their previous incarnations
Antique, delicately yellowed
Never essentially cut off from its environment, when fitted back-- a seamless artwork is restored
The old lady with gold-rimmed glasses interrupted you:
Gloves off! Show due respect to the judgment!
Gloves? Yes you have borrowed them (with a pair of wrists) from a magazine cover
Close inspection shows a subtle distinction—your mahogany skin
In contrast with his beeswax hue
He has piano-playing annual fingers, which wither with pages of a musical score
When a storm roars outside. While yours, will unveil themselves at night, as branches of a lightning-struck tree
Sharp silhouettes against the horizon: rising sun; everything drawing their shadows behind--
All submissive to your charm…
What you just told yourself, will never be used against you in any court
She pointed at the lavishly-framed photograph, blaming you for looking lofty, adrift on that grey background
It tinkled you right: The enormous grey in there was the ground, and you were just lying tight
And pretended to be wrestling with gravity
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Submitted by catherineink on June 06, 2016
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 55 sec read
- 66 Views
Quick analysis:
| Scheme | XA BXXBX CX XACXD XXX XXD |
|---|---|
| Closest metre | Iambic heptameter |
| Characters | 1,176 |
| Words | 185 |
| Stanzas | 6 |
| Stanza Lengths | 2, 5, 2, 5, 3, 3 |
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"Forced Perspective" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 23 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/44819/forced-perspective>.
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