Analysis of When You Break It All Down
John Jessup Kennan 1953 (Pomona)
Blood and lipstick
Are the only colors
I can see in your dark sterile world
Of black and white
They tend to wear off
As the date wears on
So you make sure to apply
A fresh coat every night
We nibble at each other's hearts
Encounter gristle
Or chip a tooth
These teeth are all cracked and broken
From cutting my fangs
In the days of youth
When you break it all down
This is what it looks like
Splice it all together
And mix the reels
Anyway you slice it
We all bleed the same
When you tear it all apart
This is how it feels
It's red wine with blood red meat
Drink hearty from the cup
To a heart's delight
Your hunger leaves me anemic
Your thirst completely drains me
A pale ghostly white
Wise as serpents, harmless as doves
Is who we should grow to be
I heard Messiah say
With each kiss I hear
A hiss my dear
I think it's time to fly away
When you break it all down
This is what it looks like
Splice it all together
And mix the reels
Anyway you slice it
We all bleed the same
When you tear it all apart
This is how it feels
© John Kennan August 2015
Scheme | axxbxxxb xxcxxc DEFGHIJG xxbakb xklxxl DEFGHIJG x |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 101 101010 111011101 1101 11111 10111 1111101 0111001 11011101 01010 1101 11111010 11011 00111 111111 111111 111010 0101 10111 11101 1111101 11111 1111111 110101 10101 11011010 1101011 01101 11101011 1111111 110101 11111 0111 11111101 111111 111111 111010 0101 10111 11101 1111101 11111 11010 |
Closest metre | Iambic trimeter |
Characters | 1,042 |
Words | 216 |
Sentences | 1 |
Stanzas | 7 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 6, 8, 6, 6, 8, 1 |
Lines Amount | 43 |
Letters per line (avg) | 19 |
Words per line (avg) | 5 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 118 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 31 |
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"When You Break It All Down" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 26 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/100758/when-you-break-it-all-down>.
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