The Shoelace Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AAABCDAEFAGHIAJKLMNL OPLLQGAALLRLLASFTLUL VWXLYLZLA2LLLLLB2X XXKLC2LLK LOGPD2XE2XF2F2F2G2GX LLVQAL B2BO| a woman a | A |
| tire that s flat a | A |
| disease a | A |
| desire fears in front of you | B |
| fears that hold so still | C |
| you can study them | D |
| like pieces on a | A |
| chessboard | E |
| it s not the large things that | F |
| send a man to the | A |
| madhouse death he s ready for or | G |
| murder incest robbery fire flood | H |
| no it s the continuing series of small tragedies | I |
| that send a man to the | A |
| madhouse | J |
| not the death of his love | K |
| but a shoelace that snaps | L |
| with no time left | M |
| The dread of life | N |
| is that swarm of trivialities | L |
| that can kill quicker than cancer | O |
| and which are always there | P |
| license plates or taxes | L |
| or expired driver s license | L |
| or hiring or firing | Q |
| doing it or having it done to you or | G |
| roaches or flies or a | A |
| broken hook on a | A |
| screen or out of gas | L |
| or too much gas | L |
| the sink s stopped up the landlord s drunk | R |
| the president doesn t care and the governor s | L |
| crazy | L |
| light switch broken mattress like a | A |
| porcupine | S |
| for a tune up carburetor and fuel pump at | F |
| sears roebuck | T |
| and the phone bill s up and the market s | L |
| down | U |
| and the toilet chain is | L |
| broken | V |
| and the light has burned out | W |
| the hall light the front light the back light | X |
| the inner light it s | L |
| darker than hell | Y |
| and twice as | L |
| expensive | Z |
| then there s always crabs and ingrown toenails | L |
| and people who insist they re | A2 |
| your friends | L |
| there s always that and worse | L |
| leaky faucet christ and christmas | L |
| blue salami day rains | L |
| cent avocados | L |
| and purple | B2 |
| liverwurst | X |
| - | |
| or making it | X |
| as a waitress at norm s on the split shift | X |
| or as an emptier of | K |
| bedpans | L |
| or as a carwash or a busboy | C2 |
| or a stealer of old lady s purses | L |
| leaving them screaming on the sidewalks | L |
| with broken arms at the age of | K |
| - | |
| suddenly | L |
| red lights in your rear view mirror | O |
| and blood in your | G |
| underwear | P |
| toothache and for a bridge | D2 |
| for a gold | X |
| tooth | E2 |
| and china and russia and america and | X |
| long hair and short hair and no | F2 |
| hair and beards and no | F2 |
| faces and plenty of zigzag but no | F2 |
| pot except maybe one to piss in | G2 |
| and the other one around your | G |
| gut | X |
| - | |
| with each broken shoelace | L |
| out of one hundred broken shoelaces | L |
| one man one woman one | V |
| thing | Q |
| enters a | A |
| madhouse | L |
| - | |
| so be careful | B2 |
| when you | B |
| bend over | O |
Charles Bukowski
(5)
Poem topics: , Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme
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