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

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABCDEFGHEIJKLMNOPQRSTU
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 777
Words 152
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 22

Edgar Lee Masters

Edgar Lee Masters was an American poet, biographer, and dramatist. more…

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