Dress Rehearsal
John Jessup Kennan 1953 (Pomona)
Not cruel enough to snuff them out
She gave up smoking long ago
Paid to hang around and watch them burn
Attends to them till the smoke runs out
Licks the ashtray sterile, clinically
Moves the ashes to the urn
Morbid reflections in mirrors
It's just a dress rehearsal
She nurses people to their death
Attends the funerals
Not cruel enough to toss them out
She keeps them in a window box
Attends to them as they wither away
Speaks in glowing admiration
Self-satisfaction in the changing
Of the water in their vases everyday
Morbid reflections in mirrors
It's just a dress rehearsal
She nurses people to their death
Attends the funerals
She gave up burning long ago
Beauty fades in a window box
With every little piece of life she takes
Samples hors d'oeuvres at memorials
Sits in etiquette so proper
Quietly attendant at the wakes
She nurses people to their death
Attends the funerals
Morbid reflections in mirrors
It's just a dress rehearsal
© John Kennan 3-29-14
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Submitted by rankstranger7 on May 24, 2021
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 51 sec read
- 7 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | abcaxc DEFG ahijxi DEFG bhkgxk FGDE j |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 953 |
Words | 169 |
Stanzas | 7 |
Stanza Lengths | 6, 4, 6, 4, 6, 4, 1 |
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"Dress Rehearsal" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 12 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/100744/dress-rehearsal>.
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