In this neighborhood in Queens,
I watch the neighbor teens
play without a care,
As alone I sit and stare.
I don’t play basketball
for I’m not very tall.
They dribble and drive forward,
While I sit and look onward.
Anyway I would rather write
Than shoot, dodge, and fight.
I decided to join them today,
I wondered what they would say
No knowledge or skill,
Just there for the thrill,
And so they turned me away,
They didn’t let me have my say.
Just because I’m not tall
doesn’t mean I can’t play ball!
Anyway I would rather write
Than shoot, dodge, and fight.
This poem uses a set end rhyme scheme, aabb ccdd ee. There is also a set structure. The first and second stanzas have four lines, the third has two, the fourth and fifth stanzas have four, and the sixth has two. Some of the thoughts run across lines, using enjambment. Also, the repetition of the lines in the third stanza, which also make up the sixth stanza, highlight the speaker’s denial of feeling bad about being excluded.
Explanation:
From Plato
