Analysis of Unrequited Love Poem



oh stranger, listen:    do you hear me crawling?  do you see the translucent paleness of my being, that lingers within this naked earth, made threadbare and broken?

I remember you; how you sat on my back porch, crying, teardrops burning the side of your cheek.  each step you walked, a fog.  and somewhere, while this broken storm spun inside of you, a woman was dancing with a man; a lonely boy sat high upon the rooftop, counting the shingles. a young woman found peace wrapped neatly in a baby blanket- the crimson skin of it nuzzled against her chest.  children ran barefoot under neon streetlights, unaware of the wars going on inside a man’s blood.   
concave, crimson, the dip of the planets in their mad tangos.  all of this motion foreboding to the final halt.  

yes, I remember it. me slipping into the waves of quiet, the earth
undressing my body.  and,
no matter how I flew,
Venus’ extraterrestrial climb
could not sew my eyes
into constellations.  

you remember it as well.  how we wrote poems on cement; the chalk scrawled against the blocks— how I tried to pry into your bones and mold them into flowers. but I was no alchemist. and you, unwilling to practice this blooming.  

open your eyes now.  remember we were made strangers again? you left me by the
fence at my house, weeping.  the woods creaked at every step I took.  each footprint became a fog.  you don’t remember this part— the part I returned to my primal state: alone.  only the oak trees’ laughed with me.  you don’t remember how I bled, and the sound disturbed the birds hidden in their dark nests.  how I left the earth the same way it begot me:

at my funeral they buried me in
a wooden casket. they said I earned my wings; but all I’ve ever gotten was waiting.


Scheme X XX XXXXXX A XX XA
Poetic Form
Metre 1101011111011100101111011001110111010 1010111111111011001111111101011110110111010110101010111010110010011011110001010010111101011011101010110110101011 0110011010011101111001010101 110101110010111001 11100 110111 10001001 11111 01010 10101111111010101101011111101110110110111110001010110110 10111010101100111110 1111100111100111110101110101101101111010110011111110101110010101100111111010111011 1110011010 010101111111111010110
Characters 1,753
Words 314
Sentences 26
Stanzas 6
Stanza Lengths 1, 2, 6, 1, 2, 2
Lines Amount 14
Letters per line (avg) 96
Words per line (avg) 24
Letters per stanza (avg) 224
Words per stanza (avg) 55

About this poem

Title explains it.

Font size:
 

Written on October 20, 2021

Submitted by jotterberg1030 on October 20, 2021

Modified on March 05, 2023

1:34 min read
9

Jack Otterberg

Jack Otterberg is 18 going on to 19. He is an amateur poet trying to find his voice in an effective way. more…

All Jack Otterberg poems | Jack Otterberg Books

1 fan

Discuss this Jack Otterberg poem analysis with the community:

0 Comments

    Citation

    Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:

    Style:MLAChicagoAPA

    "Unrequited Love Poem" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 19 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/112420/unrequited-love-poem>.

    Become a member!

    Join our community of poets and poetry lovers to share your work and offer feedback and encouragement to writers all over the world!

    May 2024

    Poetry Contest

    Join our monthly contest for an opportunity to win cash prizes and attain global acclaim for your talent.
    12
    days
    3
    hours
    2
    minutes

    Special Program

    Earn Rewards!

    Unlock exciting rewards such as a free mug and free contest pass by commenting on fellow members' poems today!

    Browse Poetry.com

    Quiz

    Are you a poetry master?

    »
    A group of lines that form a division of a poem is a _________.
    A couplet
    B stanza
    C line
    D paragraph