Analysis of Eavesdropping
Somewhere North of the Tar River
In North Carolina, where
Sunlight splatters like tiny stars on the highway,
I pulled in for gas and a buffet breakfast.
At the table seated away from me,
Were four farmers wearing Jeans with suspenders,
Flannel winter shirts
Scissored to the shoulder,
And a well-worn cut of boot.
If you replaced the dogs smoking cigars
playing poker in that classic painting,
These fellas could easily replace them,
Smoking cheroots
With a bottle of Jack Daniels half full
singing in their eyes,
Riding a royal flush into another story of their life.
They were talking about another farmer, Nub or Dub
I had a hard time hearing them, thru their drawling,
Carolina accents, sounding like they were barbecuing every word.
But I tried,
And the other farmer, Nub or Dub, their neighbor,
had been out on his back meadow cutting hay,
When his tractor broke down,
gave way unexpectedly-
had forgotten- his phone and tools back in the barn,
Had to walk all the way back-
A mile or more so, I heard,
And these four fellas chuckled as if they had just heard a good joke,
could not wait to see him,
A ‘good ribbing’ is what he would be in for,
at the next Saturday breakfast buffet
And all four smiled together.
And just then a Stringbean of a man from the booth behind me
Got up with a strut, to pay his bill.
He was wearing a gun, holstered to his left hip.
And the four farmers elbowed each other.
Silently raised their chin acknowledging the gun and man.
As if they were keeping their quiet in church.
When one of them said ‘Must be out Saving America Today’
they all smirked. As did I.
I wanted to pull my chair over to theirs and tell them about my yesterday,
Up on the Blue Ridge
Hiking into the mountains of my past,
Where I found wild spearmint by the trail
That my nose thought smelled like Eucalyptus
And how age has brought me a gratitude,
For that one remembrance,
Yesterday,
of a purple haze
That hung like incense smoke,
Across the valley where I wanted to be
And not eavesdropping on four farmers
Across a scramble of eggs and French toast
In a restaurant in the Carolinas
Where I am sure next Saturday
I and my cheerful gratitude
Would have been in for a ‘good ribbing’.
Scheme | AXBXCDXAXXEXDXXX XEFXABXCXXFGXXXA CXXAXXBX BXXXXHXBXGCDXXCHE |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1110110 010101 111101101 11011001010 1010100111 01101011010 10101 11010 0011111 111011001 1010011010 110110011 101 1010111011 10011 1001010101010111 10100101010111 11011101111 010101011011001 111 001010111110 1111111101 111011 110100 101011011001 1111011 0111111 0111010111111011 111111 01101111101 1011001010 0111010 01101101101011 111011111 11100111111 001101110 10011101000101 11101011001 1111111110010001 111111 1101111101101101110 11011 1001010111 11111101 111111010 011111010 111010 10 10101 111011 01010111011 01101110 0101011011 001000010 11111100 1011010 111010110 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 2,225 |
Words | 447 |
Sentences | 14 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 16, 16, 8, 17 |
Lines Amount | 57 |
Letters per line (avg) | 30 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 434 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 101 |
About this poem
I was coming back to South Carolina from a funeral I attended up north.
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"Eavesdropping" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 31 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/179436/eavesdropping>.
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