My Handwriting Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCDE AFGH IJKDL CMBNO BPQR STKU VRWK XYBB ZZA2B2 BBC2D2 E2| My handwriting is not calligraphic | A |
| Not following the rules of beauty | B |
| words stagger about | C |
| reeling | D |
| as if clobbered on the jaw | E |
| - | |
| But you the descendant my textual critic | A |
| following on the heels of the past | F |
| take stock of those gales | G |
| your ancestor got caught in | H |
| - | |
| He walked on a pugnacious coastal freighter | I |
| a bit arrogant | J |
| but you | K |
| should see beyond the pitched handwriting | D |
| not only the author's traits | L |
| - | |
| Your ancestor wrote while tossed about | C |
| not kept too warm by squalls | M |
| habitually | B |
| like having a pack | N |
| of his usual cigarettes | O |
| - | |
| Of course far off we made our way courageously | B |
| but it's hard to write a line | P |
| when your head is smashed with relish | Q |
| against the bulkhead | R |
| - | |
| Risking skin and bones | S |
| it's tough to sing acclaim | T |
| when what you see compels you | K |
| not to praise but only to throw up | U |
| - | |
| When churning water strangles motors | V |
| and a wave's curl is aimed at your forehead | R |
| then smudges are better than flourishes | W |
| They're black but true | K |
| - | |
| Here fingers simply grew numb | X |
| Here the swell slyly tormented | Y |
| Here the pen jerked with uncertainty | B |
| away from some mean shoal | B |
| - | |
| But if through all the clumsiness | Z |
| through the clutches of awkwardness | Z |
| an idea breaks through the way a freighter on | A2 |
| the Lena breaks through to the arctic shore | B2 |
| - | |
| then descendant be slow to curse the style | B |
| don't judge an ancestor severely | B |
| and even in the handwriting of the poet | C2 |
| find a solution to the enigma of time | D2 |
| - | |
| - | |
| - | |
| Translated by Albert C Todd | E2 |
Yevgeny Yevtushenko
(1)
Poem topics: , Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme
Submit Spanish Translation
Submit German Translation
Submit French Translation