Analysis of in a cereal box

Ariel 1967 (California)



i’m looking for the prize in this junk filled box
of pestilential chemicals and oil disguised as nutrition
“lucky” the front of the box says and yet no luck here
it’s as if some orange beast dictated lies, coached conway’s newspeak
i can’t swallow this – it would leave me somewhere on the streets
heaving, my innards spasming, lungs unable to find clean air
and i certainly refuse to buy this for developing  children
misled them to think this is good, is a reasonable choice
this wasn’t on my list, i didn’t put this in my grocery cart
it did not sneak home, hidden under california’s harvest and heartland’s produce
the only thing tempting may be the much touted surprise
“you won’t believe how good. it will be the best. others not good, not good at all”
and even though i dumped it out,
sifted through the manufactured preservatives and crumbs of … undistinguishable
any gold in this plastic bag of garbage turns out to be some cancerous yellow dye
there is no prize to be had; only a con – already rejected.


Scheme ABCDEFBGHIJKLKMN
Poetic Form
Metre 11010101111 1110001011010 1001101101111 11111010101111 1110111111101 10110110101111 01100011111010010 011111111010001 111111111011001 1111110101100101 01011011011001 1101111110110111111 01011111 101001001000111 1010110111011111100101 11111111001010010
Closest metre Iambic octameter
Characters 1,030
Words 183
Sentences 3
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 16
Lines Amount 16
Letters per line (avg) 50
Words per line (avg) 12
Letters per stanza (avg) 802
Words per stanza (avg) 184

About this poem

Published in Moments Before Midnight: Oregon Poets Write for Ecological, Social, Political and Economic Justice. Bob Hill Publishing.2018

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Written on April 01, 2017

Submitted by Ariel on September 19, 2021

Modified on March 05, 2023

54 sec read
3

Ariel

Ariel is a full-time Pacific Northwest poet, often participating at Oregon Open Mics events. She has been published in Gold Man Review, AIM, The Widow’s Handbook, and most recently in Terra Incognita, On The Platform Waiting and Free From Monsters. Ariel often collaborates in many Willamette Valley poetry/art projects and is a member of Oregon Poetry Association, Mid-Valley Poets Association, Willamette Writers and Poet. Her website is poetariel.net. more…

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