Analysis of Awful
I awoke to a loose pile of tiny grey feathers
where I really should put an area rug
I'd really hoped you'd made it out
That day, you came in, swooping and crashing
like a act in a carnival tent
As much as a man my size can
I tried to chase you out and away
to shoo you through the door
or out the window through which you had come
as my cat watched intently
like a juiced referee
My place is so tiny
but with plenty of places
a bluebird who's lost could go hide
After a while, you'd just disappeared
and I didn't know if you're still inside
I worried and fretted,
called friends who, "I bet" -ted
I left out some bread in a bowl
I hoped and I prayed
that you hadn't stayed
that you'd escaped
because such was the goal
but this morning my bladder
poked as it does
every half hour or so
and I found the soft splatter
of your tiny feathers
before I saw you on the floor
Your tiny body
still blue but now stiff
made me flinch as I sought
napkins for covering it
How long did it take you to die?
I tried to count up the days
the days since you look that Hitchcockian left
and watched most of your choices fly 'way
A slow death it was,
not outside in the Winter,
the cold that broke records this year
No, you quietly lay, awake, scared and starving
while my cat and I watched reruns on Fox
before wishing "Sweet dreams" to each other
You had a horrible death
You died on Christmas Eve
and plumbers charge triple on the day before Christmas
so my miniature victim, my medieval guest
I'll not try the toilet
but place you in the trash
amongst all of the boxes that had previously brought in
all of those frozen dinners
Scheme | A X X B X X C D X E E E F G X G X X H I I X H J F X J A D E X X X X X X C X J X B X J X X X X X X X A |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1011011110110 11101111001 11011111 1111010010 101001001 11101111 111111001 111101 1101011111 1111010 10101 111110 1110110 0111111 10011101 0110111101 110010 111111 11111001 11011 11101 1101 011101 1110110 1111 10011011 0110110 111010 01111101 11010 11111 111111 1011001 11111111 1111101 01111111 011111011 01111 1110010 01110111 111001011010 1110111111 0110111110 1101001 111101 0101101010110 111001010101 111010 111001 011101011100010 1111010 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,565 |
Words | 320 |
Sentences | 2 |
Stanzas | 51 |
Stanza Lengths | 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1 |
Lines Amount | 51 |
Letters per line (avg) | 25 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 25 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 6 |
Font size:
Submitted on October 22, 2015
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:38 min read
- 13 Views
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"Awful" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 17 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/66387/awful>.
Discuss this stephen debonrepos poem analysis with the community:
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In