Analysis of Muskeg Spring

Douglas Blair 1951 (London)



Be careful
You’ll miss it
The hints of the spring.
The blooms from the muskeg
The geese on the wing.
The vast glacial sculptures
That trickle and flee.
The lichen in colour
But nary a tree.
The wolf pups now yipping
The open Bay rolls.
The flukes of leviathan;
One looks long for those.
And sun at this mid-gray
At all kinds of hours;
Enough for the bushes and
Insects and flowers.
Who race through their cycle
In furious form,
With mercury rising
Slim chance to get warm.
And this is our country
And these are our friends
Who course through
The tundra
Beyond where land ends.
And life
Is a slim thread
That wends through
Their earth;
And shouts at
The challenge
Of death and of birth.
Of boreal curtains
That hang in the sky,
Til spring brings
The wonderful
Midnight sun nigh.

Note: Our son Jordan spent a period of fascinating time as an Arctic charter pilot. These are his memories as related to us. Presently he flies jet worldwide for Air Canada. Age thirty-five.


Scheme AXBBBCDEDBXXXECXCAFBFDGEEGXXEHXXHXIXAI X
Poetic Form
Metre 110 111 01101 01101 01101 011010 11001 01001 11001 01111 01011 0110100 11111 011111 111110 0110100 1010 111110 01001 110010 11111 0111010 011101 111 010 01111 01 1011 111 11 011 010 11011 1110 11001 111 0100 111 11011010100110011110101011110010101110011111111001101
Closest metre Iambic trimeter
Characters 972
Words 195
Sentences 15
Stanzas 2
Stanza Lengths 38, 1
Lines Amount 39
Letters per line (avg) 20
Words per line (avg) 5
Letters per stanza (avg) 384
Words per stanza (avg) 89
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Written on July 22, 2015

Submitted by dougb.72572 on December 29, 2022

Modified by dougb.72572 on December 29, 2022

58 sec read
11

Douglas Blair

Blogging poems since 2008. Once a lawyer in general practice. Then 32 years as Shipper in a heavy metal fabricating plant. Retired 2022. Married and father of two. Poet. Hiker. Harmonica Busker. Gospel enthusiast. Photographer. http://shootdempix.blogspot.com/ more…

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