Writing In The Afterlife Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCD EFGH IJKL MNOP QRJS KTUT VWXY ZA2A2K B2C2| I imagined the atmosphere would be clear | A |
| shot with pristine light | B |
| not this sulphurous haze | C |
| the air ionized as before a thunderstorm | D |
| - | |
| Many have pictured a river here | E |
| but no one mentioned all the boats | F |
| their benches crowded with naked passengers | G |
| each bent over a writing tablet | H |
| - | |
| I knew I would not always be a child | I |
| with a model train and a model tunnel | J |
| and I knew I would not live forever | K |
| jumping all day through the hoop of myself | L |
| - | |
| I had heard about the journey to the other side | M |
| and the clink of the final coin | N |
| in the leather purse of the man holding the oar | O |
| but how could anyone have guessed | P |
| - | |
| that as soon as we arrived | Q |
| we would be asked to describe this place | R |
| and to include as much detail as possible | J |
| not just the water he insists | S |
| - | |
| rather the oily fathomless rat happy water | K |
| not simply the shackles but the rusty | T |
| iron ankle shredding shackles | U |
| and that our next assignment would be | T |
| - | |
| to jot down off the tops of our heads | V |
| our thoughts and feelings about being dead | W |
| not really an assignment | X |
| the man rotating the oar keeps telling us | Y |
| - | |
| think of it more as an exercise he groans | Z |
| think of writing as a process | A2 |
| a never ending infernal process | A2 |
| and now the boats have become jammed together | K |
| - | |
| bow against stern stern locked to bow | B2 |
| and not a thing is moving only our diligent pens | C2 |
Billy Collins
(1)
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About Writing In The Afterlife
Writing In The Afterlife is a poem by Billy Collins. This page includes the poem text, poet information, related topics, comments, and similar poems.
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