Analysis of Straitjacket
Joe Strickland 1986 (Hobbysville, SC)
The rain
Came down in sheets,
The droplets
Tapping
Against my window
Like an army
Of fingers,
Each one trying
To worm its way
Inside.
But I didn't mind the sound.
I welcomed it,
Actually,
Because it was
The only thing
That kept me company
In my solitude.
As I sat there,
My mind
Began to drift.
I thought about
All the missed
Opportunities
And the could-have-beens,
The moments
Of my life
That had been wasted.
I never grasped
The creeping time
Of evening showers
Until they were gone,
Until the rain
Had stopped
And the sun
Had risen
And another day
Had slipped
Through my fingers
Like the air.
But as the darkness
Enveloped me
Like a straitjacket,
I couldn't escape
The noose
That hung
In my darkest
Imaginations.
It was always there,
Waiting for me
To let my guard down,
To relax
Just enough
So it could creep up
And wrap
Itself
Around my throat.
And then
There were the people.
The ones
Who made
My skin crawl
And my stomach churn.
The ones
Who whispered
Behind my back
And made fun of me
When I wasn't around.
I was strangled
By their haunted
Social scene,
An outsider
Looking in,
A pariah
That no one
Wanted to touch.
But worst of all
Was the queen.
The one who ruled
Over everything
And everyone,
Treating me like
Just a pawn
In her game.
She always knew
What move to make,
Always had
The upper hand.
I was outplayed,
Outmatched,
Outclassed.
And I didn't know
How to get out
From under
Her shadow.
The rain
Stopped eventually,
Leaving me alone
With my thoughts
And my fears.
But I knew
That it would return,
Just like everything else
In my life.
And in the meantime,
I would be left
To face
The demons
That haunted me,
To fight
Against
The forces
That threatened
To drag me
Down into
The depths
Of despair.
Scheme | Axxbcdebfxgxdxbdx hxxixxxxjkxlemaxnnfxeh xdxxxxxohdxxxxxxx xxOxpqOxxdgxkrsxxnx prxbnxmxtxxxccxcisc Adxxxtqxjlxxodxxxxdtxh |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 01 1101 010 10 01110 1110 110 1110 1111 01 1110101 1101 100 0111 0101 111100 0110 1111 11 0111 1101 101 0100 00111 010 111 11110 1101 0101 11010 01101 0101 11 001 110 00101 11 1110 101 11010 0101 1010 11001 01 11 0110 0010 1111 1011 11111 101 101 11111 01 01 0111 01 10010 01 11 111 01101 01 110 0111 01111 111001 1110 1110 101 1010 100 0010 111 1011 1111 101 0111 1010 010 1011 101 001 111 1111 11 0101 111 1 1 01101 1111 110 01 01 101000 10101 111 011 111 11101 11101 011 0001 1111 11 010 1101 11 01 010 110 111 101 01 101 |
Closest metre | Iambic dimeter |
Characters | 1,828 |
Words | 441 |
Sentences | 20 |
Stanzas | 6 |
Stanza Lengths | 17, 22, 17, 19, 19, 22 |
Lines Amount | 116 |
Letters per line (avg) | 12 |
Words per line (avg) | 3 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 225 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 54 |
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"Straitjacket" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 20 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/162926/straitjacket>.
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