Analysis of The Blues Hotel
Two Jacksons or
Four sawbucks
Up front—$40.
No credit cards, no I.D.;
Beyond, beneath,
Battered neon lights
The Blues Hotel
Weathered time’s ravages
Struck cords of commerce as
Hookers dispense advice
Like ATM machines—
Service for a price.
Soiled linen, wafer thin sheets, feel and
Look like pillow drool on flax
A ceramic throne, standard toilet,
Sits on splintered two-by-fours,
Wax ring smashing like a plum
Slightly sinking like a rock in thick mud when seated.
Yellow halos ripple over textured ridges,
Plaster summits, on the
Sparkling stucco ceiling where
Snow seeps through the roof
Dripping tears into a closet
That seldom houses luggage
Here on Colfax, cops draw down on
Wendy’s customers—mistake naive
Travelers as “King’s Table” players—
Denver’s whorehouse clientele,
Crack den magistrates.
One’s next-door neighbors’
Fists pound paper-thin walls like
Meat tenderizers pummeling flesh or
Jack hammers cracking concrete;
Rattling door handles twist, turn
Voices chant incantations, grunt outside
Demand immediate admittance—
Ready to fix a need, a place to
Tie down before daylight resumes
Kickin’ flop house reality,
The Blues Hotel’s legacy, above,
Below, and on all sides of every room.
Scheme | ABXXXBCBBBBB XBDBXXBXXXDX XXBCBBXAXXXBXBXXX |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1101 11 11 110111 0101 10101 0101 101100 111101 100101 1101 10101 110101110 1110111 001011010 1110111 1110101 1010101011110 101010101010 101010 1010101 11101 10101010 1101010 1111111 1100011 100111010 1101 1110 11110 1110111 1110011 1101001 1011011 1011111 010100010 101101011 1101101 11110 010110001 01011111001 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,211 |
Words | 186 |
Sentences | 7 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 12, 12, 17 |
Lines Amount | 41 |
Letters per line (avg) | 24 |
Words per line (avg) | 5 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 323 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 62 |
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Submitted on July 30, 2019
Modified on March 14, 2023
- 55 sec read
- 58 Views
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"The Blues Hotel" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Mar. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/49104/the-blues-hotel>.
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