No Time Left

A Minute Poem

Photo by Maximalfocus on Unsplash

No Time Left

I wait too long at traffic lights–
It’s no delight.
The cars, too slow,
They need to go.

The light turns green, thank God, at last!
Step on the gas.
I’m out of here,
Let’s get in gear.

Just sixty seconds on the clock;
Life’s run amok.
I don’t have time,
To end this rhyme.

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Unraveling the verse

The Minute Poem is a rhyming poem of 12 lines, 60 syllables, written in iambic meter. An iamb is a metrical “foot” made up of two syllables with the first syllable unstressed, and the second stressed. Iambic meter in poetry consists of one or more iambs in sequence.

The Minute Poem is written in three stanzas of 8-4-4-4; 8-4-4-4; 8-4-4-4 with a rhyming pattern of aabb; ccdd; eeff.

Since the Minute Poem tells a story in a minute or less, I thought it was appropriate to write one about time. Many of us get in a hurry, especially when driving. We become impatient with traffic lights or when other drivers go slower than we’d like.

We have so much going on in our lives that we’re often running late. We then take out our frustrations on other drivers when our own time management is the actual problem.

I frequently feel the pressure of time on Substack as well. I try to keep up with Notes, watching live videos of people I enjoy, responding to comments, and promoting my work, and then I run short on time for writing.

Some days I feel balanced, while other times I feel rushed. Can you relate?

I hope you’re enjoying my poetry and fiction. I appreciate your support for this publication!