Analysis of Break a Leg



In Italy they say: In the mouth
of the wolf! I hope the wolf dies!
Some would say luck has nothing
to do with it. That’s called diligent
labor ungroomed. Pick up a coin
heads-up, but always abandon coins
tails-down or writhe. Does it make
a difference what kind of wood one
is knocking on? Oak-Cherry-Maple?
Does it have to be hardwood? Luck —
an elusive fable—or as tangible as the day
before us? Folding sheets cover, hiding
the mirrors of houses when another soul
has crossed over. Can a mirror truly ensnare
one’s soul? Superstitions bring comfort but luck
—luck devours if relied on, dies if ignored.


Scheme ABCDEFGHIJKCLMJN
Poetic Form
Metre 010011001 10111011 1111110 111111100 1011101 11110101 1111111 010011111 110111010 1111111 10101011100101 0111011010 01011010101 111010101001 1101011011 101010111101
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 620
Words 114
Sentences 12
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 16
Lines Amount 16
Letters per line (avg) 30
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 473
Words per stanza (avg) 108

About this poem

This poem was born out of my friendship with Ciara, an exchange graduate student from Italy. We were talking about luck, and I decided to write a poem about my feelings about luck and superstition. Do I have something I consider lucky that carry around with me? Sure, I do! But, usually, luck favors the prepared. It's what happens when preparation meets opportunity.

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Written on 2005

Submitted by zero_of_nine on September 10, 2022

Modified on March 05, 2023

34 sec read
4

Curtis Carmen Davis

Curtis Carmen Davis is a Midsouth poet published in various regional publications in Tennessee, Kentucky, and Mississippi. He has received several Awards of Merit from the Nashville Newsletter Poetry Contests and won two essay awards for CCSB travel abroad study to London, Scotland, and later Ireland. In 2016, and 2017, he was published in The Secret Life of Poets poetry magazine. He lives in the misty mountains of East Tennessee. He likes to draw and paint in his spare time. more…

All Curtis Carmen Davis poems | Curtis Carmen Davis Books

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