Strategy Response 1, Week 7

Strategy: Concealed Rhyme and Pacing
Poem: Mechanics of Flight

In the poem ‘Mechanics of Flight,” there are several instances of concealed rhyme presented throughout the piece. These rhymes are distinctive because of Meeks’ utilization of enjambments and long lines. The verses run together so that any instance where there is a comma allows the reader to pause and breathe, like the rest sign on a musical staff. In other words, saying the piece out loud allows the reader to feel the elements of rhythm and rhyme on their tongue that would otherwise go unnoticed if enjambments and the particular line-breaks were absent. These rhythms, in turn, are enhanced by the hidden rhymes that help give the piece an essence of musicality.

For example, the very first account of a period is not seen in the poem until the eighth couplet. In these couplets, words that rhyme are sprinkled throughout the eight stanzas. For example: flight in the first stanza rhymes with light in the second; around in the fourth stanza rhymes with hometown in the same line; return in the fourth stanza somewhat rhymes with a absurd in the fifth; torn in stanza three rhymes with warm in stanza five; the words trees, easy, and read also all rhyme in stanza six. All of these stanzas are broken down into couplets and punctuated by commas. The thought is continuing, and only short breaths should be taken where the commas are as not to interrupt the continuity of the couplets. Also, the speed of the poem shifts from fast, to slow due to the varying line lengths of the poem. Meeks is pracitcally composing the piece as a conductor would an orchestra.

Meeks may restrict herself to using couplets in order to format her poem, but the concealed rhyme schemes allow her an element of freedom which she can use to puppeteer and mold how she wants the reader to say and envision her work. So, there is some semblance of music that can be heard in the midst of the tragedy that was 9/11. The music is just hidden among the imagery, just like how the rhymes are concealed within in the poem and its pacing.