Analysis of INQUEST

cynthia marsh 1959 (Batesville, AR)



I wandered alone down roads of dirt
That went on for miles uncounted
I drove along fields of lettuce and cotton
And splashed in summer’s ditches
I carefully watched the landscape
as it read my mind aloud
and the colors became me as I became
purple and indigo blue
I spoke to the sky and wondered why
It never seemed to answer
And the trees had faces but most were scary
So I didn’t talk to them
I traveled for miles hundreds it seemed
On my journey within a circle
Yet somehow when I passed again the
Same way the landscape was always anew
I wandered alone down desert roads
And the years were seventeen
And on my tour of inquisition
I met a woman like me
At times I glimpsed a shadow of her
Or the hem of her flowing skirt
We passed without a whisper on days
When silence was more than a word
She’s still there, I know she is
I wonder who she sees
But even more I wonder
If she ever thinks of me


Scheme ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOHPQCKJARSTUJK
Poetic Form
Metre 110011111 1111110 11011110010 0101010 1100101 1111101 00100111101 100101 111010101 1101110 00111011010 111111 110111011 111001010 11111010 11011101 110011101 0010101 01111010 1101011 11110110 10110101 110101011 11011101 1111111 110111 1101110 1110111
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 940
Words 187
Sentences 1
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 28
Lines Amount 28
Letters per line (avg) 26
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 714
Words per stanza (avg) 179

About this poem

This poem in its entirety is about a place I loved and how it made me feel, the person I had become while living there, and how it all looked to me in my abstract mind. The experience truly changed me as a person. I was able to face my fears and win.

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Written on July 17, 2015

Submitted by CindyG on May 12, 2022

Modified on March 05, 2023

56 sec read
50

cynthia marsh

I grew up in the desert of New Mexico. When I was 27 I moved to the rural land of Arizona. While living there I became aware of many things which fascinated me. Although I left Arizona in 2003 and returned to New Mexico I often think of the desert there and am compelled to write about it. more…

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    "INQUEST" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 30 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/129232/inquest>.

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