The Feast Of Stephen Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: A BCDEFGHIJIKLMN A OPQRSQTORQUVRW A IXYOORRORRRZQQ Y OOROA2RA2ORRRQB2B2

IA
-
-
The coltish horseplay of the locker roomB
Moist with the steam of the tiled shower stallsC
With shameless blends of civet musk and sweatD
Loud with the cap gun snapping of wet towelsE
Under the steel ribbed cages of bare bulbsF
In some such setting of thick basement pipesG
And janitorial realitiesH
Boys for the first time frankly eye each otherI
Inspect each others bodies at close rangeJ
And what they see is not so much anotherI
As a strange possible version of themselvesK
And all the sparring dance adrenal lifeL
Tense jubilant nimbleness is but a vagueM
Busy unfocused ballet of self loveN
-
IIA
-
-
If the heart has its reasons perhaps the bodyO
Has its own lumbering sort of carnal spiritP
Felt in the tingling bruises of collisionQ
And known to captains as esprit de corpsR
What is this brisk fraternity of timingS
Pivot and lobbing arc or indirectionQ
Mens sana in men s sauna in the flushT
Of health and toilets private and corporal gleeO
These fleet caroms plies and genuflectionsR
Before the salmon leap the leaping fountainQ
All sheathed in glistening light flexed and alertU
From the vast echo chamber of the gymV
Among the stumbled shouts and shrill of whistlesR
The bounced basketball sound of a leather whipW
-
IIIA
-
-
Think of those barren places where men gatherI
To act in the terrible name of rectitudeX
Of acned shame punk s pride muscle or turfY
The bully s thin superiorityO
Think of the Sturm Abteilungs KommandantO
Who loves Beethoven and collects DegasR
Or the blond boys in jeans whose narrowed eyesR
Are focussed by some hard and smothered lustO
Who lounge in a studied mimicry of easeR
Flick their live butts into the standing weedsR
And comb their hair in the mirror of cracked windowsR
Of an abandoned warehouse where they keepZ
In darkened readiness for their occasionQ
The rope the chains handcuffs and gasolineQ
-
IVY
-
-
Out in the rippled heat of a neighbor s fieldO
In the kilowatts of noon they ve got one corneredO
The bugs are jumping and the burly youthsR
Strip to the waist for the hot work aheadO
They go to arm themselves at the dry stone wallA2
Having flung down their wet and salty garmentsR
At the feet of a young man whose name is SaulA2
He watches sharply these superbly tannedO
Figures with a swimmer s chest and shouldersR
A miler s thighs with their self conscious graceR
And in between their sleek converging bodiesR
Brilliantly oiled and burnished by the sunQ
He catches a brief glimpse of bloodied hairB2
And hears an unintelligible prayerB2

Anthony Evan Hecht



Rate:
(1)



Poem topics: , Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme

Submit Spanish Translation
Submit German Translation
Submit French Translation


Write your comment about The Feast Of Stephen poem by Anthony Evan Hecht


 

Recent Interactions*

This poem was read 2 times,

This poem was added to the favorite list by 0 members,

This poem was voted by 0 members.

(* Interactions only in the last 7 days)

New Poems

Popular Poets