Analysis of The Dregs of the Earth
The Dregs of the Earth
by Noemi Santana
April 28, 2020
Luis – el Gato – the Cat --
brilliant star imploded
at the hands of who knows.
His native crib spit him out:
The Bronx took him in.
Luis – Luisito/
simple clarity born of ignorance and genius.
Humble, confident, insecure and amazing.
East 144th, 149th, 150th…how many other stops?
He could travel in subway because he could read numbers --
Illiterate in Spanish and English --
His biggest pride was that he learned to sign his name --
Luis Figueroa
His beingness pushing out of his chest to be recognized.
Photographic memory making up for
absent reading skills.
At his youthful height
built, stacked, strong --
easy catch for lonely women
who used him to then shake him lose\
broken, casting about for the next lie.
He knows he has a baby girl
denied to him and disappeared –
but he knows he has a baby girl.
Gentle man with fragile soul
has ended up sick and alone.
Scheme | XAX BXXXXBXXXXXXAXXXXXXXXCXCXX |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 01101 11010 10 011101 101010 101111 1101111 01110 011 1010011100010 101001000010 1111111110101 1110010111110 0100010010 110111111111 010010 111011111110 0101001011 10101 11101 111 10111010 11111111 1010011011 11110101 0111001 111110101 1011101 11011001 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 966 |
Words | 182 |
Sentences | 10 |
Stanzas | 2 |
Stanza Lengths | 3, 26 |
Lines Amount | 29 |
Letters per line (avg) | 25 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 359 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 85 |
About this poem
I wanted to memorialize this beautiful person who may otherwise remain invisible as happens to so many from the inner city. His life is valuable and his heart has loved much.
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Written on April 28, 2020
Submitted by Simeon5 on January 17, 2023
Modified on March 14, 2023
- 54 sec read
- 43 Views
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