Walter Simmons
Edgar Lee Masters 1868 (Garnett) – 1950 (Elkins Park)
My parents thought that I would be
As great as Edison or greater:
For as a boy I made balloons
And wondrous kites and toys with clocks
And little engines with tracks to run on
And telephones of cans and thread.
I played the cornet and painted pictures,
Modeled in clay and took the part
Of the villain in the "Octoroon."
But then at twenty-one I married
And had to live, and so, to live
I learned the trade of making watches
And kept the jewelry store on the square,
Thinking, thinking, thinking, thinking, --
Not of business, but of the engine
I studied the calculus to build.
And all Spoon River watched and waited
To see it work, but it never worked.
And a few kind souls believed my genius
Was somehow hampered by the store.
It wasn't true. The truth was this:
I didn't have the brains.
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 17, 2023
- 45 sec read
- 159 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | ABCDEFGHEIJKLMNOPQRSTU |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 777 |
Words | 152 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 22 |
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"Walter Simmons" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 31 Oct. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/8738/walter-simmons>.
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