Personification of a Photograph
A photograph visited me today.
It climbed out from beneath the dictionary of songs
Which sits atop my litany desk.
It wore different shades of gray
Monochrome, like his voiceless monotone--a boy.
Girl, you're insane.
You'll take your nickel paper and paint it pale,
Like you always do.
Frame the face of a league of words.
Build a shrine with toothpick beams.
The face smirked at me but did not speak.
I propped him up and begged for him to stay.
Against your bedpost he'll be tacked.
Girl, throw that thought away.
Burn it like a fallen leaf.
With it rake mercurial froth
And watch the bubbles roll astray.
Myriad smoky hues are planted on the page,
A four-by-six rectangular body
Sans heart, sans arms, sans legs.
Blue eyes are empty, wan, and bronze hair stony black.
Distortion feeds the compromise;
The smile is drawn intact.
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Submitted on May 01, 2011
Modified on April 19, 2023
- 44 sec read
- 96 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | AXXAX XXXXX XA BAXXA XXX XXB |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 808 |
Words | 146 |
Stanzas | 6 |
Stanza Lengths | 5, 5, 2, 5, 3, 3 |
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"Personification of a Photograph" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 31 Oct. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/81740/personification-of-a-photograph>.
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