Analysis of The Day John Lennon Died

Jack Random 1953 (California)



On the day John Lennon was shot down
Outside the Dakota Hotel
On Central Park West
In the heart of Manhattan
Like a common criminal
Or a rapper on the wrong side of town
A song was written in Liverpool
Three singers harmonized in Nashville
The final chapter wrote itself
In the life of a troubadour on the run
Outside of Boulder Colorado
A dancer found her groove
A native movement was born
On the Great Navaho Reservation
In Arizona and New Mexico
Where a circle of shamans
Smoked a pipe of peace
And a child took his first breath
In a corner drugstore on Bleeker Street

Life goes on the old man says
Life goes on


Scheme AXXBXAXXXBCXXBCXXXX XX
Poetic Form
Metre 101110111 11001001 11011 0011010 1010100 1010101111 01110010 11010010 01010101 0011010101 11110010 010101 0101011 1011010 00100110 1010110 10111 0011111 001011101 1110111 111
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 596
Words 117
Sentences 1
Stanzas 2
Stanza Lengths 19, 2
Lines Amount 21
Letters per line (avg) 24
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 249
Words per stanza (avg) 59

About this poem

Unpublished. A reflection on the nature of life and death in these troubled times.

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Written on September 05, 2021

Submitted by jackrandom on September 06, 2021

Modified on March 05, 2023

35 sec read
8

Jack Random

Contemporary American poet, novelist and essayist. Most recently published Life Songs, Poems for a Pandemic and Poemics: Poems of Social and Political Justice. more…

All Jack Random poems | Jack Random Books

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