Analysis of Can We Once Not Try
Lawrence S. Pertillar 1947 (Connecticut)
Can we once not try.
And purposely do.
What we know to be right.
Without it left to expect,
Our trying...
Will be forgotten to forget.
How many attempts are tried?
Ending in disappointing frustration.
Only to claim in accusations to blame,
On procrastinating to explain...
Something done to try,
Is too confusing and difficult...
To accomplish the end result.
And many depend upon,
The same repeated alibis.
To use to excuse them,
As reliable to accept.
Done to do nothing more,
But to do their best to mention...
How close to almost they came,
To a getting what was tried to do...
Almost close to getting done.
However...
Who knew,
What was not done to do yesterday...
With time wasted given today,
Makes it impossible...
To leave that to go undone.
And when that is finished,
No one attempts again to try...
Completing with priority,
That which is more important to do.
It seems most of us spend more time,
Trying to be intelligent...
Explaining away our nonsense.
'Tell me...
How long have we been doing this?'
'How long have we been doing what?'
'Talking about how blessed we were,
To be chosen and selected...
As those most likely to achieve.
And succeed in life.
At whatever they decide to do.
With it to accomplish and get done!'
'What?
Oh no.
LOL...'
'Why do you laugh like that?'
'Because...
Now I am remembering,
Why you have been..
Mentioning that so much lately.
I remember the both of us,
Discussing that...
With our high school counselor.
You know...
About success and what we wanted to do.
And she asked us,
What it was...
We both wanted most to accomplish.
Done to do at our best to achieve.
And we both said at the same time...
GRADUATE FROM HIGH SCHOOL.
Remember?
She didn't take us seriously either.
And made up her own comments.
To put in our high school year books.
You don't remember that?'
'Oh yeah.
Oh my God.
That's where that came from.
Wow.
For whatever the reason,
Her comments remained in my head...
To believe and convince me,
They were my own.'
'I kept wondering why,
You kept saying we were blessed...
To be among the chosen ones.
I took it to mean something else.
Especially around our boys.'
'Oh.
Oh no!'
'Oh no, what?'
'I think...
Both of us have left the wrong,
Impression.'
'What are you talking about?
At our meetings,
The boys love to hear you say...
How chosen we all are!'
'Wow.
What has she done to me?'
'Uh...
I think they call it divorce.'
'Numbnuts!
I'm talking about that school counselor.'
'And don't be calling me,
Your ex-wife's pet name she had for you.
T.M.I.
Too much information.'
Scheme | abxxcx xdexaff xgxxxdebd hbiijdxakblxx kx m hxnxbd mOj p xcxkqphobqxxnlxhhxxp xxxRdxkx axxxx oO m xxd xxix Rk xx gh kbed |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11111 01001 111111 0111101 1010 11010101 1100111 100010010 1011001011 10100101 10111 110100100 10100101 0100101 0101010 111011 10100101 111101 11111110 111111 101011111 111101 10 11 11111110 11101001 110100 1111101 011110 11010111 01010100 111101011 11111111 10110100 010011010 11 11111101 11111101 10011110 11100010 11110101 00101 1101111 111010011 1 11 1 111111 01 1110100 1111 10011110 10100111 0101 11011100 11 01010111011 0111 111 111011010 1111101101 01111011 100111 010 11011100010 0110110 110101111 110101 11 111 11111 1 110010 01001011 1010011 1011 111001 1110101 11010101 11111101 01001101 1 11 111 11 1111101 010 1111001 11010 0111111 110111 1 111111 1 1111101 1 1100111100 011101 111111111 1 11010 |
Closest metre | Iambic trimeter |
Characters | 2,559 |
Words | 583 |
Sentences | 82 |
Stanzas | 20 |
Stanza Lengths | 6, 7, 9, 13, 2, 1, 6, 3, 1, 20, 8, 5, 2, 1, 3, 4, 2, 2, 2, 4 |
Lines Amount | 101 |
Letters per line (avg) | 19 |
Words per line (avg) | 5 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 94 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 23 |
Font size:
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"Can We Once Not Try" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 21 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/118005/can-we-once-not-try>.
Discuss this Lawrence S. Pertillar 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