Word-Snake-Play
John Joseph Hughes 1950 (Bethesda, Maryland)
Blue blood stones melt
stones waltz salt smelt
salt smelt snake flakes
salt spelled much at stake
trail time rhyme
trail of snails shine
shine in graveyard lines
shine in hellbent times
splendor's repose noted
splendor's birthmark reported
birthmark shaped star dimensions
birthmark traced in threaded needle
needle floats free off transatlantic water
needle bore borderline postern into hole
hole dug by mole attracts unsightly pole
hole drug by shovel survive to meet on-the-cheap
on-the-cheap steep leaps into frayed collars
on-the-cheap but to trade dimes for silver-dollars
silver-dollars to bury
silver-dollars hide inside jangling castanets
castanets for genesis of a truly interplanetary dance
castanets for a real renaissance of rude implanted pants
pants with big bony inseams
pants with its alterations in its last throes
throes that throw bones to moans
throes that bestow final yawns to dawns
dawns scar skin-lines to light
dawns squeak sand-stones into sounds
sounds thrive on Kelly green asparagus tips
sounds blush blue-tailed thrushes trill
trill these song a-lings to their natural waste-end
trill the bad comedians to smile at strong-men
strong-men wait until weights'-end to strut and preen
strong-men bait their breath and slay the ancient ways
ways gone past to half-staff to taps
ways done at last to prepare for collapse at last
last to know what must be known to all but he
last eyes to size suppurating loss and get lost
lost without places never been or seen
lost without a trace
trace all the way to inner space
trace in a dream of midnight dark
dark without a spark
dark without even a mark
mark my words birds
mark amazing confusions in maze
maze ripples subtle supple serpentine
maze marched into eternal single file
Word-Snake-Play
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Submitted by Bethesda_Bard_6850 on January 05, 2021
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:26 min read
- 9 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | AABCDEFGHHIJKLLMNNOBPQBRSTUVWXYZ1 2 3 4 O5 1 6 6 7 7 7 8 2 E9 0 |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,718 |
Words | 285 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 49 |
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"Word-Snake-Play" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 14 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/59859/word-snake-play>.
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