Analysis of Even Though A Stretch
Lawrence S. Pertillar 1947 (Connecticut)
Even though a stretch to imagine.
If what has become a priority,
Affecting the lives of black people.
As heard every day to irritate and agonize,
The lives of those white.
Would any of this nonsense,
Be repeatedly revisited with no end in sight.
There would be no mention in sight to end.
As if the only news there is has to be,
Dramatically sensational.
Every 10 minutes.
And captivating enough to keep a child's eyes,
Fix, riveted to stare, unblinking, at a TV screen.
While announcing,
Breaking mindblowing Headline News?
About a mother duck stopping traffic.
As her little ducklings waddle across,
A country road somewhere in North Dakota.
With nothing to mention about politicians,
Debating in heated discussions...
Over who flew in a private jet.
At an exorbitant expense,
Only the rich can pay.
That has nothing to do to end,
The aging and crumbling infrastructure.
Hunger and homelessness.
Or wars fought on foreign shores...
Paying billions and billions more.
As if coming out of the pocket,
Of a drunken uncle.
Who has won the lottery for a trillion dollars.
Although 900 billion of it,
Mysteriously disappears to pay taxes.
And not a word is heard,
About who has secretly...
Sickened the health of the economy.
With the keeping up,
Of a kept pretentiousness.
Staying indebted to impressive imitations.
'Okay.
Answer this...
If you were Black,
Wealthy, wise and unlimited to possess...
Anything you wished.
Where would you be, right now?'
'I would stay right where I am now.
Since no one would believe me to be,
Comfortable with my own stupidity.'
Scheme | XABCDEDFABXCXXXXXXGGXEHFXXXXXBXXXXAAXCG HXXXXI IAA |
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Poetic Form | |
Metre | 101011010 1110100100 010011110 111001110010 01111 1101110 10100010011101 1111100111 11010111111 01000100 10010 01000111011 110011110111 1010 10111 0101011010 1010101001 0101101010 11011001010 010010010 101100101 11010001 100111 11101111 0100100010 100100 1111101 10100101 111011010 101010 1110100101010 11011 1000011110 010111 0111100 1001100100 10101 1011 100101010010 1 101 1101 10100100101 1011 111111 11111111 111101111 10001110100 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,560 |
Words | 314 |
Sentences | 33 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 39, 6, 3 |
Lines Amount | 48 |
Letters per line (avg) | 26 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 409 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 88 |
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"Even Though A Stretch" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 21 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/162551/even-though-a-stretch>.
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