Rate:5.0 / 1 vote

Down One Ballpoint

Robert Joseph Mattingly 1957 (Brookline, Massachusetts)

Free verse
The final game is the poem.
The pen bounces on the paper,
As the ink perspires at the point
Sweating out every thought to guard
Against all of the offensive
Words with a few lines left to go
And the thought is ticking away
With the complete concentration
Of that one poets idea.

About this poem

Basketball

Font size:
Collection  PDF     
 

Written on December 05, 2023

Submitted by robertm.06281 on December 05, 2023

16 sec read
27

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABCDEFGHI
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 279
Words 55
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 9
Full analysis for Down One Ballpoint »

Robert Joseph Mattingly

A Poet for forty years since 1983, a Substitute Teacher, B.S.Ed.. I built a building of poems beyond imagination, 64 inches tall. more…

All Robert Joseph Mattingly poems | Robert Joseph Mattingly Books

2 fans

Discuss the poem Down One Ballpoint with the community...

1 Comment

Translation

Find a translation for this poem in other languages:

Select another language:

  • - Select -
  • 简体中文 (Chinese - Simplified)
  • 繁體中文 (Chinese - Traditional)
  • Español (Spanish)
  • Esperanto (Esperanto)
  • 日本語 (Japanese)
  • Português (Portuguese)
  • Deutsch (German)
  • العربية (Arabic)
  • Français (French)
  • Русский (Russian)
  • ಕನ್ನಡ (Kannada)
  • 한국어 (Korean)
  • עברית (Hebrew)
  • Gaeilge (Irish)
  • Українська (Ukrainian)
  • اردو (Urdu)
  • Magyar (Hungarian)
  • मानक हिन्दी (Hindi)
  • Indonesia (Indonesian)
  • Italiano (Italian)
  • தமிழ் (Tamil)
  • Türkçe (Turkish)
  • తెలుగు (Telugu)
  • ภาษาไทย (Thai)
  • Tiếng Việt (Vietnamese)
  • Čeština (Czech)
  • Polski (Polish)
  • Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian)
  • Românește (Romanian)
  • Nederlands (Dutch)
  • Ελληνικά (Greek)
  • Latinum (Latin)
  • Svenska (Swedish)
  • Dansk (Danish)
  • Suomi (Finnish)
  • فارسی (Persian)
  • ייִדיש (Yiddish)
  • հայերեն (Armenian)
  • Norsk (Norwegian)
  • English (English)

Citation

Use the citation below to add this poem to your bibliography:

Style:MLAChicagoAPA

"Down One Ballpoint" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 27 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/174920/down-one-ballpoint>.

Powered by CITE.ME Cite.Me

Become a member!

Join our community of poets and poetry lovers to share your work and offer feedback and encouragement to writers all over the world!

More poems by

Robert Joseph Mattingly

»

April 2024

Poetry Contest

Join our monthly contest for an opportunity to win cash prizes and attain global acclaim for your talent.
3
days
3
hours
8
minutes
131 entries submitted — 19 remaining

Special Program

Earn Rewards!

Unlock exciting rewards such as a free mug and free contest pass by commenting on fellow members' poems today!

Our awesome collection of

Promoted Poems

»

Browse Poetry.com

#ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

Quiz

Are you a poetry master?

»
From Ralph Waldo Emerson’s The Test, “Sunshine cannot _____ the snow, Nor time unmake what poets know.
A bleach
B beseech
C leach
D reach