Shirt Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABC DEF BGH GIJ KLM NOP QRS TUV WPX YZZ UA2B ZZB BUZ B2C2D2 E2PU ZF2G2| The back the yoke the yardage Lapped seams | A |
| The nearly invisible stitches along the collar | B |
| Turned in a sweatshop by Koreans or Malaysians | C |
| - | |
| Gossiping over tea and noodles on their break | D |
| Or talking money or politics while one fitted | E |
| This armpiece with its overseam to the band | F |
| - | |
| Of cuff I button at my wrist The presser the cutter | B |
| The wringer the mangle The needle the union | G |
| The treadle the bobbin The code The infamous blaze | H |
| - | |
| At the Triangle Factory in nineteen eleven | G |
| One hundred and forty six died in the flames | I |
| On the ninth floor no hydrants no fire escapes | J |
| - | |
| The witness in a building across the street | K |
| Who watched how a young man helped a girl to step | L |
| Up to the windowsill then held her out | M |
| - | |
| Away from the masonry wall and let her drop | N |
| And then another As if he were helping them up | O |
| To enter a streetcar and not eternity | P |
| - | |
| A third before he dropped her put her arms | Q |
| Around his neck and kissed him Then he held | R |
| Her into space and dropped her Almost at once | S |
| - | |
| He stepped up to the sill himself his jacket flared | T |
| And fluttered up from his shirt as he came down | U |
| Air filling up the legs of his gray trousers | V |
| - | |
| Like Hart Crane's Bedlamite shrill shirt ballooning | W |
| Wonderful how the patern matches perfectly | P |
| Across the placket and over the twin bar tacked | X |
| - | |
| Corners of both pockets like a strict rhyme | Y |
| Or a major chord Prints plaids checks | Z |
| Houndstooth Tattersall Madras The clan tartans | Z |
| - | |
| Invented by mill owners inspired by the hoax of Ossian | U |
| To control their savage Scottish workers tamed | A2 |
| By a fabricated heraldry MacGregor | B |
| - | |
| Bailey MacMartin The kilt devised for workers | Z |
| to wear among the dusty clattering looms | Z |
| Weavers carders spinners The loader | B |
| - | |
| The docker the navvy The planter the picker the sorter | B |
| Sweating at her machine in a litter of cotton | U |
| As slaves in calico headrags sweated in fields | Z |
| - | |
| George Herbert your descendant is a Black | B2 |
| Lady in South Carolina her name is Irma | C2 |
| And she inspected my shirt Its color and fit | D2 |
| - | |
| And feel and its clean smell have satisfied | E2 |
| both her and me We have culled its cost and quality | P |
| Down to the buttons of simulated bone | U |
| - | |
| The buttonholes the sizing the facing the characters | Z |
| Printed in black on neckband and tail The shape | F2 |
| The label the labor the color the shade The shirt | G2 |
Robert Pinsky
(1)
Poem topics: , Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme
Submit Spanish Translation
Submit German Translation
Submit French Translation
About Shirt
Shirt is a poem by Robert Pinsky. This page includes the poem text, poet information, related topics, comments, and similar poems.
Write your comment about Shirt poem by Robert Pinsky
Best Poems of Robert Pinsky