Analysis of Cinders
We never thought we'd become fallen
after returning home from the
Middle East wars,
our youthful bodies slowly smothered,
our lungs labored, cancers came.
Our own U.S. government's shattered
promise to take care of us,
we were exposed to the burn pits
on the U.S. bases in Iraq/Afghanistan.
They were angry red and orange behemoths,
larger than a football field,
a pyro's dream, our nightmare.
Poison plastics, chemicals in the
devilish roaring fires,
seared our sore throats,
no protective gear,
Death's stealing presence even in
our own barracks,
as the soot slithered serpentine
into the air conditioning.
Damn, Uncle Sam,
your misery is in your lies,
we were wounded living ghosts,
we entered the imposing monolithic
VA system, so many of us denied.
How could our own brass do this to us?!
We were expendable to them,
we came back to the U.S. betrayed.
Some of us were runners,
that could run no more.
Our spouses, our children bled grief.
After our deaths the PACT Act
finally passed,
such an insult to our worth.
The American flag covered us in
her consolation.
We had hopeful dreams too,
now we are buried,
neath well kept lawns with
cooing mourning doves and
white marble epitaphs in
undying presence.
Our souls welcomed to Eden's
fragrance,
where we can breathe deep,
immortal from the cinders ~
Scheme | ABCDX DEXXXXX BFXXGXXX XXXXXEXX FXXXXXGA XXXXGHCHXF |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 110110110 10010110 1011 1010101010 10110101 101110010 1011111 10011011 10110001010 10101010010 101011 011101 101010000 101010 11011 10101 11010100 10110 101110 01010100 1101 11001011 1010101 1100010010 1101101101 1110111111 10010011 11110101 111010 11111 1010101011 10101011 1001 11011101 0010011010 0010 111011 11110 11111 101010 110100 01010 1011011 10 11111 0101010 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,309 |
Words | 261 |
Sentences | 19 |
Stanzas | 6 |
Stanza Lengths | 5, 7, 8, 8, 8, 10 |
Lines Amount | 46 |
Letters per line (avg) | 22 |
Words per line (avg) | 5 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 172 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 37 |
About this poem
This poem is about the U.S. soldiers who were betrayed by the U.S. government
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"Cinders" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 12 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/160947/cinders>.
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