Analysis of Piss Artist
A room of knowns and unknowns, of sound,
Talk, chat, music, a covering of quiet desperation.
People alone and people together.
Empty chairs, empty table, chairs filled and tables attended.
Occasional braying, humour it seems,
Bursts like sputum from a writhing epileptic.
This is my haven. My home from home.
I hang my hat here and hang myself from ropes of make-believe,
Painting fleeting images of fun, sketched with liquid,
I create worlds and inhabit them as though real.
My make-believe reality, a bent, distorted truth,
Provides succour for a bone-dry soul, self-made.
As the paint never dries, the picture always changes.
I make them, fellow painters add or take away from them
Blurring any semblance of normality in dull, cold froth.
Never mind, never mind, another pint of clarity arrives. Cheers.
The show goes on, the braying intensifies, I’m fine, getting finer.
Then, somehow, I’m drowning loudly as my fellow painters watch and wave.
My pictures drip, unable to find purchase on this glassy surface.
More paint will solve it, strengthen the grip that’s starting to slip.
Later, in fog, the pictures are gone. Tables, chairs, people. Gone.
I ache from all the painting, body and brain burned by effort.
The paint is poisonous, I fear. Best not use it again. Good idea.
I wait for the fog to clear, the ache to slowly dissolve. Bad paint.
Soon enough though, fixed, I return to the canvas and set out my easel.
Time to paint again, it’s a skill I’m blessed with, like all painters.
The tables are here, the chairs, chat, music, all freshly minted.
Just need the paint, just the paint. Just. Ah, here it is - cheers!
Scheme | XXAB XXXX BXXX XXXC AXXX XXXX XXXC |
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Poetic Form | |
Metre | 011100111 11100100110010 1001010010 101101011010010 01001111 11101010010 111101111 11111011111101 1010100111110 101100101111 110110010101 0111011111 101101010110 11110101110111 10101011000111 10110101011100011 011101010111010 1111010111010101 11010101110111010 11111100111011 100101011101101 111101010011110 011100111111011010 1110111011100111 101111011010011110 111011011111110 010110111011010 1101101111111 |
Closest metre | Iambic heptameter |
Characters | 1,648 |
Words | 312 |
Sentences | 31 |
Stanzas | 7 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 28 |
Letters per line (avg) | 45 |
Words per line (avg) | 10 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 180 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 40 |
About this poem
Alcoholism and self-delusion
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"Piss Artist" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 2 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/156265/piss-artist>.
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