Analysis of Notable Absence
In the winter, when you're away,
I imagine the world mourns with me.
The candy floss clouds turn dark in suspension,
The bus on Canal street runs late, and the milk sours seconds faster.
When ice grows on the oak, I do the things I can't when you're here.
I let the hair on my legs entwine, the soy sauce on my chin congeal.
I watch Oprah and sob, sing Abba with my mouth full.
On Christmas day, the only stockings I see are wrapped in gaudy paper,
A present from Aunty Ena to wear as I eat my radioactive meal for one.
And then suddenly it's spring, the world rises groggily from slumber,
And finds me shaved and scrubbed and scented.
The house dusted, the cushions laid on the couch in order of shade.
Everything ready so I can tell you I didn't even notice you were gone.
Scheme | ABCDEFGDCDHIJ |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 00101101 101001111 01011110010 01101111001101010 111101110111111 11011110101111101 1110011101111 110101010111101010 01011101111110010111 011001101101110 011101010 0110010110101011 1010111111101010101 |
Closest metre | Iambic heptameter |
Characters | 762 |
Words | 149 |
Sentences | 9 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 13 |
Lines Amount | 13 |
Letters per line (avg) | 46 |
Words per line (avg) | 11 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 600 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 149 |
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Submitted on May 02, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 46 sec read
- 1 View
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"Notable Absence" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 15 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/80472/notable-absence>.
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