Analysis of Counterbalance



Counterbalance
--------------

Be-
     wild-
ered as 
to why
floorboards cry louder on
birthdays when the baby’s
sleeping.              They must feel
     weight of year’s travails.

Another dawn, again

& again, new. Days take over;
                         the unforgiving bright holding
old decisions to
greet body at day—
break. Shadow:
  a part of me—
      apart of me.
       second self                      haunting 
earth.

Every step, foot-
falls louder.
Of all the eaves,
             awnings,
                and ends,
      that grey between of
journey’s         precipice
  is the ineffable
fate of all:                           slipping past
edge to black 
swallow.

Limbs toward light;
a subtle rage                  against that gentle
                                                    passing.


Scheme A BXXXXAXX X CDXXEBBDX XCXAXXXFXXE XFD
Poetic Form
Metre 100 1 1 1 11 11 11101 1101 10111 11101 010101 0111110 00010110 10101 11011 11 0111 0111 10110 1 10011 110 1101 1 01 11011 10100 100100 111101 111 10 1011 010101110 10
Closest metre Iambic dimeter
Characters 929
Words 208
Sentences 9
Stanzas 6
Stanza Lengths 2, 8, 1, 9, 11, 3
Lines Amount 34
Letters per line (avg) 13
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 75
Words per stanza (avg) 36

About this poem

This piece focuses on the struggle between a woman trying to home onto her independence and youth while recognizing she is a Mother and must make better choices for her child. It’s also a realization of her own mortality, in acceptance of her aging and new parental responsibilities; the loss of her care-free child like decisions she once had.

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Written on June 04, 2019

Submitted by Albinosquirrel444 on May 09, 2022

Modified on March 05, 2023

1:02 min read
49

Sarah Bly Roach

Sarah Bly Roach has studied at Springfield College in Illinois, where she received the SCI poetry scholarship, and also studied poetry and literature at the University of Illinois at Springfield. Sarah writes in jazz & memory. Her approach to writing is best said in her own words, "No emotion is cut and dry, so I try to choose an ambiguous word that supports the duality of the idea. From there, I can build around and structure of the poem with open form to express the array of the individual memory." Sarah Bly Roach’s influences are Walt Whitman’s for his melodic use of cadence, Gustaf Sobin for his line breaks & open form composition, and Robert Creeley because, as she says, "He makes despair feel ok." more…

All Sarah Bly Roach poems | Sarah Bly Roach Books

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