Too Little, Too late
This was an assignment last year from May 1, 2001. It is called "found poetry," which is basically a prewritten piece by someone else, arranged or rewritten into poetry. You can use quotes and spacing to emphasize the point. No it does not have to rhyme. In this found poem, I based it on a newpaper article, about a man who died when he fell off his boat around the waters of Long Island. He could have been saved, but the coast guard didn't have enough people. I scored a pretty high mark and was commented on my use of tone in the poem. And Papa was the last name of the man that died, however I guess it can be used figuratively as well.
Too Little, Too Late
4.6 miles from life Papa fell out of a boat.
2000 feet from safety Papa died.
Between 1 a.m. and 9 a.m. is the worse time to need help on a boat.
Why?
�It�s just out
Typical
Staffing during those hours.�
One out of 83.
Can�t send a boat until other crew members arrive.
20 minutes later 2000 feet from safety Papa died.
35 minutes after, there is enough men to save Papa,
11 minutes too late.
It was unusual that no one could help,
But others
Assumed
It was for a good reason.
At lease 2 were �needed� to save Papa,
There was only one out of 83 that morning.
That one could have tried but,
�The department does not like to do that.�
Papa�s death was a major incident but
�under the circumstances, I think we make the best use of the people committed to this command.�
One man out of 83 was working the morning
Papa died.
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