By the numbers
they assigned me a number
six digits stenciled on
gray striped prison issue
and it took me awhile
to answer to "475503"
(some inmates called me "47")
and in time (I am serving
life) I forgot my birth name
forgot the parents who
birthed me somewhere in Tijuana
forgot the event leading up
to why I am here
staring from the impenetrable
wondering how the world out there
manages without me
especially you
the woman who called me
"the one and only"
a number I should have found
easy enough to live with
#
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Submitted on May 01, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 28 sec read
- 1 View
Quick analysis:
| Scheme | ABCDCEFGCHIJKLECEEMN |
|---|---|
| Closest metre | Iambic trimeter |
| Characters | 481 |
| Words | 94 |
| Stanzas | 1 |
| Stanza Lengths | 20 |
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"By the numbers" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 30 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/67606/by-the-numbers>.
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