Mother Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AB CDEFGHH IJKLMMNO IPQRSTHUVWX YZZ IHI A2B2 C2JZHD2E2J F2G2I IB2H2B2I2J2K2 L2 M2IN2 O2P2I M JHQ2JP R2MS2MH T2J2U2V2 W2G2X2HY2Z2 HA3B3C3HIAsh falls on the roof | A |
of my house | B |
- | |
I have cursed you enough | C |
in the lines of my poems | D |
between them | E |
in the silences which fall | F |
like ash flakes | G |
on the watertank | H |
from a smog bound sky | H |
- | |
I have cursed you | I |
because I remember | J |
the smell of Joy | K |
on a sealskin coat | L |
because I feel | M |
more abandoned than a baby seal | M |
on an ice floe red | N |
with it's mother's blood | O |
- | |
I have cursed you | I |
as I walked prayed | P |
on a concrete terrace | Q |
high above the street | R |
because whatever I pulled down | S |
with my bruised hand | T |
from the bruising sky | H |
whatever lovely plum | U |
came to my mouth | V |
you envied | W |
spat out | X |
- | |
Because you saw me in your image | Y |
because you favored me | Z |
you punished me | Z |
- | |
It was only a form of you | I |
my poems were seeking | H |
Neither of us knew | I |
- | |
For years | A2 |
we lived together in a single skin | B2 |
- | |
We shared fur coats | C2 |
We hated each other | J |
as the soul hates the body | Z |
for being weak | H |
as the mind hates the stomach | D2 |
for needing food | E2 |
as one lover hates the other | J |
- | |
I kicked | F2 |
in the pouch of your theories | G2 |
like a baby kangaroo | I |
- | |
I believed you | I |
on Marx on Darwin | B2 |
on Tolstoy Shaw | H2 |
I said I loved Pushkin | B2 |
you loved him | I2 |
I vowed Monet | J2 |
was better than Bosch | K2 |
- | |
Who cared | L2 |
- | |
I would have said nonsense | M2 |
to please you | I |
frequently did | N2 |
- | |
This took the form | O2 |
of course | P2 |
of fighting you | I |
- | |
We fought so gorgeously | M |
- | |
We fought like one boxer | J |
his punching bag | H |
We fought like mismatched twins | Q2 |
We fought like the secret sharer | J |
his shade | P |
- | |
Now we're apart | R2 |
Time doesn't heal | M |
the baby to the womb | S2 |
Separateness is real | M |
keeps on growing | H |
- | |
One by one the mothers | T2 |
dropp away | J2 |
the lovers leave | U2 |
the babies outgrow clothes | V2 |
- | |
Some get insomnia | W2 |
the poet's disease | G2 |
sit up nights | X2 |
nursing | H |
at the nipples | Y2 |
of their pens | Z2 |
- | |
I have made hot milk | H |
kissed you where you are | A3 |
I have cursed my curses | B3 |
I have cleared the air | C3 |
now I sit here writing | H |
breathing you | I |
Erica Jong
(1)
Poem topics: , Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme
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