Madmen Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: ABCDE FBGHIJ KLMLNLOP QRSEBT LUFVWXEYLZA2L

They say you can jinx a poemA
if you talk about it before it is doneB
If you let it out too early they warnC
your poem will fly awayD
and this time they are absolutely rightE
-
Take the night I mentioned to youF
I wanted to write about the madmenB
as the newspapers so blithely call themG
who attack art not in reviewsH
but with breadknives and hammersI
in the quiet museums of Prague and AmsterdamJ
-
Actually they are the real artistsK
you said spinning the ice in your glassL
The screwdriver is their brushM
The real vandals are the restorersL
you went on slowly turning me upside downN
the ones in the white doctor's smocksL
who close the wound in the landscapeO
and thus ruin the true art of the madP
-
I watched my poem fly down to the frontQ
of the bar and hover thereR
until the next customer walked inS
then I watched it fly out the open door into the nightE
and sail away I could only imagineB
over the dark tenements of the cityT
-
All I had wished to sayL
was that art was also shortU
as a razor can teach with a slash or twoF
that it only seems long compared to lifeV
but that night I drove home aloneW
with nothing swinging in the cage of my heartX
except the faint hope that I mightE
catch a glimpse of the thingY
in the fan of my headlightsL
maybe perched on a road sign or a street lampZ
poor unwritten bird its wings foldedA2
staring down at me with tiny illuminated eyesL

Billy Collins



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