The Pillar Box
Katherine Mansfield 1888 (Wellington) – 1923 (Fontainebleau, Île-de-France)
The pillar box is fat and red,
The pillar box is high;
It has the flattest sort of head
And not a nose or eye,
But just one open n*gger mouth
That grins when I go by.
The pillar box is very round
But hungry all the day;
Although it doesn't make a sound,
Folks know it wants to say,
"Give me some letter sandwiches
To pass the time away."
"A postage stamp I like to eat
Or gummy letterette."
I see the people on the street,
If it is fine or wet,
Give something to the greedy thing;
They never quite forget.
The pillar box is quite a friend;
When Father goes away
My Mother has such lots to send,
Far letters every day,
And so I drop them in its mouth
When I go out to play.
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 12, 2023
- 42 sec read
- 119 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | ABABCB DEDEXE FAFGXG HEHECE |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 657 |
Words | 143 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 6, 6, 6, 6 |
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"The Pillar Box" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 31 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/25147/the-pillar-box>.
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