Analysis of Field of Zeros (I)
In a dream, I saw Thomas Paine
And Mark Twain;
With tears in their eyes,
Watching political integrity die.
Political insanity has a familiar form
Witnessing history, they knew its norm.
Mark Twain, foaming in mouth, cursing the lies
Indignant were both, seeing public cries
Entered in our midst, Thomas Jefferson,
Angry that politicians mock facts and reason;
Especially, in Presidential election season,
And those accepting the lies, drinking poison.
I said, honorable fathers, I am here to complain,
And the facts are very plain.
A voice came from one,
“Son, inform us about what is going on
We hear this mad drumbeat
And the public cry at the angels’ feet.”
I replied, our economic system is unfair
And political system so corrupt, people cannot bear
Politicians sell themselves with pride
They are not held accountable, justice is denied
Politicians create wars so corporation can sell arms
Fanning false patriotism, causing the nation harm.
Our elections are circus in town
These characters would bring the nation down:
The elephant is flipping in the air;
The donkey on the tightrope seeking her share
To entertain all, crucial issues are off
While both eating from the same corporate trough
One is a bigoted ignoramus with a lot of incertitude
Proud of vulgarity and stuck in his childhood
A man with the ambition of an emperor
With delusion of perfectness; having no error
Having deviancy of Caligula and ruthlessness of Nero
And proud of displaying both in solo
The other, a senile war mongering functionary
Incapable of ethical stance and economic prosperity,
Promoted as the epitome of FDR!
And bombing children, wherever they are
An influence peddler in the pocket of corporations
Destroying nations with sanction or military invasions.
Said Twain,” corporate politicians are like vampires
They suck the public’s blood to sustain empires
No pride to serve the public need
Only to accommodate their masters’ greed
They raise their hand to serve the public well
Instead, at the end, their wallets would swell.
“What happened to our beloved land?” said Jefferson
“That our nation must be led by chameleons
Where did the enlightened populace go?
Why they elect leaders from the political gutter below?
All must heed: when ignorance is praised with adore
Democracy can be sustained no more.”
Paine affirmed,” These are not your heroes
They come from field of zeros
To social movements, you must depend
To protect the nation and from oppressors to fend
For tree of democracy to endure and bear fruit,
Social and economic justice must be its bark and root.”
Twain declared, “Spirit of the Red Cloud has raised the flag of unity
To protect Mother Earth and to summon the informed community
Spirit of the Frederick Douglass is mobilizing all
From colonized, disenfranchised and tortured souls
Mother Jones, the hell raiser, summons her children
The workers, students, veterans and women.”
Jefferson added, “The change will come to the land
But not, by the invisible hand.
It is a cross-generational duty and task
To hold any authority accountable and take away its mask.”
I woke up delighted and honored
Went back to sleep, then the nightmare came, meeting the dishonored.
Scheme | AABCDD BBEEEE AAEXFF GGHHXX IIGGJJ CXKKLL MMGXNN XXOOPP EBLLQQ RRSSTT MMXXEE UUVVWW |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 00111101 011 11011 10010001001 01000100100101 1001001111 1110011001 0100110101 10010110100 10101011010 010001001010 01010011010 11100010111101 0011101 01111 10110111101 11111 0010110101 1011001010101 001001010110101 01010111 1111010010101 0100111010111 1011000100101 1001011001 1100110101 0100110001 0101011001 1011101011 11101011001 11010001010111 11010001011 011001011100 10101110110 10100110100110 011010101 010011100100 01001100100100100 01010010011 0101001011 11001000101010 010101101100010 111000101110 110101101100 11110101 1010101101 1111110101 0110111011 1101100111100 1101011111 1100101001 1101101001001001 111110011101 0100110111 101111110 1111110 110101101 1010100101011 1110100101011 10001010111101 10110101111011100 10110101100010100 1010101011001 1100010101 101011010010 01010100010 100100111101 111001001 110101001001 111001000100010111 111010010 11111011100010 |
Closest metre | Iambic hexameter |
Characters | 3,224 |
Words | 568 |
Sentences | 18 |
Stanzas | 12 |
Stanza Lengths | 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6 |
Lines Amount | 72 |
Letters per line (avg) | 36 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 214 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 44 |
About this poem
A tale about the U.S. Presidential elections
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"Field of Zeros (I)" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 10 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/186062/field-of-zeros-%28i%29>.
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