Analysis of Relapse
When the drought subsided I could have sworn,
Kids riding bicycles around the corner
Waved to me as if my house wasn’t two stories
Of beaten brick and morning glories,
Drying like sweet raisins,
Speckling the lawn in purple patches,
Where no broken brown glass
Contaminated grass laid lifeless,
Existing only to baptize my sins,
But I wasn’t religious anymore,
So I watched the windowpanes crack,
Like thin ice that had been stepped on the wrong spot,
I watched the shattered glass cut deep
Into my skin, where no one could find it,
I watched the concave roof collapse like wet paper,
the sun set before light could shine through the other side and show me the hidden message I had been searching for.
When the rain fell I watched it fall through,
It dripped from the lips of bottlenecks,
On days when the clouds made a wreck-
Of the sky,
“Water will clean the wound” they say,
This was my water
Are my wounds healing yet?
Dripping From holes in the walls,
Where whispers from neighbors
Smothered the morning glories with heavy downpour,
And I prayed for the first time in years,
That all the little purple flowers would drown and die.
Scheme | XABBXXXXX CXXXXA C XXXDXAXXXCXD |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1010101111 11010001010 11111111110 110101010 101110 10101010 111011 01001110 0101010111 11101001 1110101 11111111011 11010111 0111111111 110011011110 011011111010101101010111101 101111111 11101110 11101101 101 10110111 11110 111101 1011001 110110 100101011010 011101101 1101010101101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,254 |
Words | 237 |
Sentences | 3 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 9, 6, 1, 12 |
Lines Amount | 28 |
Letters per line (avg) | 32 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 227 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 52 |
About this poem
I wanted to open the poem in a modern day neighborhood, where everyone could visualize themselves and connect to the poem immediately. The true setting is meant to take place inside the mind of the narrator and Morning glories debut a beautiful symbolism as they are naturally the flower that symbolizes renewal and transformation, I needed them to act as a vessel for the narrators struggle to show the internal battle that they and anyone going through rehab face. A very personal poem that hopefully helps illuminates this perspective. more »
Written on September 27, 2023
Submitted by altraveler2000 on September 27, 2023
- 1:11 min read
- 47 Views
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"Relapse" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/170769/relapse>.
Discuss this Alcase Lorraine 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