"The Scarecrow"
The torn straw hat
has lost its shape
futile, and a meaningless gape
is all that is left of that.
A stitched up mouth-
I'll never speak again.
Stapled to a post down south-
Overalls as loose as they have ever been.
The crows have come
fearing the blank stare in my eyes
and fearing my size.
Their heartbeat beats like a drum.
I've been here for decades
with my plaid shirt, cuffed sleeves.
These crows will fade;
We steal their innocence like thieves.
Explanation
The first theme I wanted to address that Wilbur addresses frequently in his poems is the concept of growing up into adulthood. He usually has a negative connotation with adulthood and so I made mine similar to that effect. This poem follows Wilbur's A,B,B,A,C,D,D,C...etc rhyme scheme that he utilizes so well and fluidly. I do not think that my work can ever measure up to his in terms of style and fluidity especially since it is hard to keep the tempo and beat of such a poem when the rhyme scheme is formed in that manner. However, he can do it very well. Many of Wilbur's poems uses metaphors so two out of the three poems I wrote are metaphors. In this particular poem, the personal voice is that of the scarecrow which symbolizes adulthood while the crows are symbolic of children and adolescence who fly freely. Scarecrows are helpless and thus it creates a tragic atmosphere that adulthood is not controlled by the human. He loses all sense of freedom and suffers the wear and tear that scarecrows experience. Ultimately, my last two lines show that adolescence and innocence disappears once someone enters the passageway into adulthood. In all three of my poems, punctuation is not used in a distinct or clever manner, because Richard Wilbur plainly puts in the punctuation marks in an essay-like manner.