Rate:5.0 / 2 votes

White Noise

Naomi Sara Buote 1968 (Prince Edward Island)

March 24 
Free verse
you dip
the tip of your toast
in egg yolk
and I watch
as it slides from your lip
and runs down your chin
onto your collar
leaving a sliver of bright yellow
on your white shirt and against
the dreary bleached sky
that blends with the snow,
stretching for miles and miles,
as we sit in our skimmed milk,
decaffeinated morning,
silence bouncing off
the whiteness of kitchen walls,
so smothering and shattering,
I wish we'd drop
a cup, a plate, a fork, a damn knife,
sending it clattering to the floor,
then,  perhaps,  one of us
would finally get to say
some kind of I'm sorry.

About this poem

This depicts a real, raw life situation that can be relatable to many in a relationship

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Written on January 19, 2024

Submitted by buotenaomi on March 27, 2024

35 sec read
69

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABCDAEFGHIGJKLMNLOPQRST
Closest metre Iambic trimeter
Characters 578
Words 116
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 23
Full analysis for White Noise »

Naomi Sara Buote

A retired English teacher currently living in Quebec, Canada who loves to use words to depict real life situations that all can relate too. more…

All Naomi Sara Buote poems | Naomi Sara Buote Books

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Discuss the poem White Noise with the community...

5 Comments
  • Vixility
    Vixility
    Wuh-wow! The imagery in this poem is flawless! THIS is how free verse poems ought to be written—after the short-lived style of the Imagist movement and poets like Amy Lowell and Hilda Doolittle.

    So impressive … you’ve got real talent. 
    LikeReply28 days ago
  • susan.brumel
    susan.brumel
    Your poem was on my short list. Very provocative and well-written. Congratulations!
    LikeReply 11 month ago
    • Vixility
      Vixility
      Couldn’t agree with you more, Sue. This is the kind of poem that inspires writers to write!
      LikeReply 128 days ago
  • memchambers
    memchambers
    Poetry is greatest when it captures the mundane and makes it surreal
    LikeReply 11 month ago
  • chellebelle77
    chellebelle77
    I could feel the deafening silence between the fighting couple. It was unbearably loud. I loved how I was at that breakfast table with them.
    LikeReply 11 month ago
  • miriamm.58856
    miriamm.58856
    I really like the imagery in this poem and the emotional expression.
    LikeReply 11 month ago

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"White Noise" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 8 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/184954/white-noise>.

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