Analysis of the trash men
Charles Bukowski 1920 (Andernach) – 1994 (San Pedro)
here they come
these guys
grey truck
radio playing
they are in a hurry
it’s quite exciting:
shirt open
bellies hanging out
they run out the trash bins
roll them out to the fork lift
and then the truck grinds it upward
with far too much sound . . .
they had to fill out application forms
to get these jobs
they are paying for homes and
drive late model cars
they get drunk on Saturday night
now in the Los Angeles sunshine
they run back and forth with their trash bins
all that trash goes somewhere
and they shout to each other
then they are all up in the truck
driving west toward the sea
none of them know
that I am alive
REX DISPOSAL CO.
Scheme | XXAB C BXX DXXX XXXX X XD X X AC EX E |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 111 11 11 1010 110010 11010 110 10101 111011 1111011 01011110 11111 111110101 1111 1110110 11101 11111001 10011001 111011111 11111 0111110 11111001 1010101 1111 11101 10101 |
Closest metre | Iambic trimeter |
Characters | 616 |
Words | 124 |
Sentences | 4 |
Stanzas | 12 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 1, 3, 4, 4, 1, 2, 1, 1, 2, 2, 1 |
Lines Amount | 26 |
Letters per line (avg) | 20 |
Words per line (avg) | 5 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 42 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 11 |
Font size:
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"the trash men" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 23 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/53773/the-trash-men>.
Discuss this Charles Bukowski 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