Rhymes for a Watertower
Christian Wiman
A town so flat a grave's a hill, A
A dusk the color of beer. B
A row of schooldesks shadows fill, A
A row of houses near. B
A courthouse spreading to its lawn, C
A bank clock's lingering heat. D
A gleam of storefronts not quite gone, C
A courthouse in the street. D
A different element, almost, E
A dry creek brimming black. F
A fight to lure the darkness close, E
A light to keep it back. F
A time so still a heart's a sound, G
A moon the color of skin. H
A pumpjack bowing to the ground, G
Again, again, again. H
Rooney, Kathleen. "Rhymes for a Watertower." Poetry Foundation. Poetry Foundation, n.d. Web. 09 Oct. 2014.
This poem by Christian Wiman is an end-rhyme poem due to the last syllables in each line rhyming with another line in that stanza. I believe that the rhyming in this poem is employed in order to create a general rhythm and flow to the piece that makes the audience continue reading all the way through. The end rhyme being on a line not directly before it, but two before it, links the two lines and the items being described in each, to create a unity in the stanza. For example in the first stanza, you get the general unifying idea that the town Wiman is describing is somber and barren. The first rhyme unifies the flat town (a grave being a hill) and the row of school desks shadows fill. Both give a negative tone that together can illustrate a dark setting.
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