Checks You Can't Cash



Do you live your whole life
  in a half empty space

Do you swear up and down
  your excuses defaced

Do you sing in a choir
  where the music has died

Do you brand all as liars
  as your tongue remains tied

Do you rob from the master
  just to steal from the slave

Do you hide in a mansion
  built on top of your grave

Do you look for direction
  trails barren and thin

Does your soul beg correction
  torn away from within

Do you begin every sentence
  tracing back to the past

Do you waste precious moments
   —writing checks you can’t cash

(Villanova Pennsylvania: March, 2016)
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Submitted by KurtPhilipBehm on March 03, 2019

Modified on March 05, 2023

32 sec read
27

Quick analysis:

Scheme XX XX AB XB AC DC DE DE XX XX X
Closest metre Iambic trimeter
Characters 563
Words 108
Stanzas 11
Stanza Lengths 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 1

Kurt Philip Behm

Longtime writer with twelve books in publication. Three of them Poetry. : The Death Of The Playground : The Sword Of Ichiban : Searching For Crazy Horse : Darkening Sun : An Anthology Of Perception-Vol's 1 & 2 : After Midnight : Sammy And Bumpers : The Fall City Mandate : Revenge Along The War Trail : Death from The Sky more…

All Kurt Philip Behm poems | Kurt Philip Behm Books

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    "Checks You Can't Cash" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Mar. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/48159/checks-you-can't-cash>.

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