poem #6

David Plantinga 1972 (Sherbrooke)



What tempted me to join the queue?
It must be some great treat.  
Only delight could keep these souls
Shuffling on blistered feet.  

I turned a corner hours ago,
Quite perpendicular,
But as I count the corners off
I’ve tallied five so far.  

The walls are clean, but they’re not bright,
Scrubbed to sobriety.
I passed a blotch I’d seen before,
But it might lie to me.  

This line may loop into a square,
And no one’s first or last,
And all who’ve shuffled patiently
Are doomed to lose the past.

Did I ascend to this closed floor
By staircase or by lift?  
Outside must lie some wider world,
Denied a precious gift.    

The walls are bare of openings,
But we need only one.  
Quiet can’t be the sole reward
For everything we’ve done.
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Submitted by DavidPlantinga on April 14, 2021

Modified on March 05, 2023

40 sec read
6

Quick analysis:

Scheme XAXA XXXX XBCB XDBD CEXE XFXF
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 734
Words 134
Stanzas 6
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4

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    "poem #6" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 31 Oct. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/97692/poem-#6>.

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