Backdrop Addresses Cowboy

This contemporary poem does not follow a regular rhyme or metrical structure. It’s written in free verse, with short, enjambed lines. Sometimes the enjambments occur mid-word, as in the case of “almost-/ silly West” (Lines 2-3), where the compound word “almost-silly” is broken up at the end of the first line. The poem’s stanzaic lengths vary; from six-line-long stanzas to a single-line stanza. In addition, the lines are of varying lengths too, though tend to be short in general. The overall effect of this line and stanza arrangement is a choppy, jagged rhythm which gives the poem an edge. As lines are often enjambed, thoughts flow into each other over successive lines, lending the speaker’s voice urgency. The impression the stanzaic structure creates is that the speaker has something important to say, so much so that their thoughts race ahead of them. While the longer stanzas are more lyric in tone, building up metaphors and images (“Starspangled cowboy/ sauntering out of the/ almost silly West …” ; Lines 1-6, first stanza), the shortest stanzas have a direct or critical tone (“Then what about me”; Line 25).