My Skeleton, My Rival Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCDE FGHI JKLAMNFO PQRSGTUMVWXYVZA2B QB2C2QQAQFD2E2QAF2| Interesting that I have to live with my skeleton | A |
| It stands prepared to emerge and I carry it | B |
| with me this other thing I will become at death | C |
| and yet it keeps me erect and limber in my walk | D |
| my rival | E |
| - | |
| - | |
| What will the living see of me | F |
| if they should open my grave but my bones | G |
| that will stare at them through hollow sockets | H |
| and bared teeth | I |
| - | |
| - | |
| I write this to warn my friends | J |
| not to be shocked at my changed attitude | K |
| toward them but to be aware | L |
| that I have it in me to be someone | A |
| other than I am and I write to ask forgiveness | M |
| that death is not wholesome for friendships | N |
| that bones do not talk have no quarrel with me | F |
| do not even know I exist | O |
| - | |
| - | |
| A machine called skeleton will take my place | P |
| in the minds of others when I am dead | Q |
| among the living and that machine | R |
| will make it obvious that I have died | S |
| to be identified by bones | G |
| that have no speech no thought no mind | T |
| to speak of having let themselves be carried | U |
| once around in me as at my service | M |
| at the podium or as I lay beside my love | V |
| or when I held my child at birth | W |
| or embraced a friend or shook a critic's hand | X |
| or held a pen to sign a check or book | Y |
| or wrote a farewell letter to a love | V |
| or held my penis at the bowl | Z |
| or lay my hand upon my face at the mirror | A2 |
| and approved of it | B |
| - | |
| - | |
| There is Ignatow it will be said | Q |
| looking down inside the open grave | B2 |
| I'll be somewhere in my poems I think | C2 |
| to be mistaken for my bones but There's Ignatow | Q |
| will be said I say to those who persist | Q |
| just read what I have written | A |
| I'll be there held together by another kind | Q |
| of structure of thought and imagery | F |
| mind and matter love and longing tensions | D2 |
| opposite such as the skeleton requires | E2 |
| to stand upright to move with speed | Q |
| to sit with confidence my friend the skeleton | A |
| and I its friend shielding it from harm | F2 |
David Ignatow
(1)
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My Skeleton, My Rival is a poem by David Ignatow. This page includes the poem text, poet information, related topics, comments, and similar poems.
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