Analysis of Garbage KIds
Poisonous gasses fill the air.
The rotting smell is everywhere.
The sopping layers under my feet
seem to breed
pools of black oil.
No trace of clean soil
can be found
for several miles around.
Against the drifting garbage hill,
people are living still
Children are born here and never leave.
This hell on earth is what they believe
all there is to know.
And the older they grow,
the sicker it gets
in their blood and in their heads.
Behind every garbage truck that unloads
young children in greasy clothes
dig in the filth without gloves or masks
knowing that not fulfilling their awful tasks
means their lives will be worse than before
and their bodies will ache even more
They dig to get something to eat
and other basic things they need
Because the profit of the company must grow
and the children’s work is too slow
being weakened by the strong pollution
more working hours is the cruel solution
So now until late at night
the sky is filled with artificial light
to make them find more iron, copper or led
and earn the scarce meals they are fed
Scheme | AABCDDEE FFGGHHXX XXIIJJBC HHKKLLMM |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 10010101 0101110 010101011 111 1111 11111 111 110101 01010101 101101 101110101 111111101 11111 001011 01011 0110011 01100101101 1100101 100101111 10110101101 111111101 011011101 11111011 01010111 010101010011 00101111 1010101010 110101010010 1101111 011110101 11111101011 01011111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,031 |
Words | 192 |
Sentences | 8 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 32 |
Letters per line (avg) | 26 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 212 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 48 |
About this poem
Written after visiting the Stenk Meanchey landfill in Phnom Penh, Cambodia with Scott Neeson
Font size:
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"Garbage KIds" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 23 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/111616/garbage-kids>.
Discuss this Ludy Bührs poem analysis with the community:
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In