Analysis of Dyeing to live

Latin X 1967 (Philadelphia)



I’m Living to die
Living for the next high.
Injecting the devil’s juice into my veins.
I’m living life as though I only have days

Hoping I don’t die from this next high.

My body is trembling I need a fix.
Here I go again injecting to live.

I’m fighting this demon that controls me.
I’m struggling with this demon that takes over me.

I’m dyeing to live,
But I always give in.

I’m losing this fight.
Here I go injecting again.
I feel the stick, I’m no longer sick.

I can’t breathe,
My heart is stopping.
What have I done?

My life is coming undone.
I’m praying To God to let me live.
I promise this will be my last fix.

I’m letting go,
I’m breathing slow.
My heart stopped.

I died to live till my next fix.


Scheme AAXX A BC DD CX XXX XXE ECB FFX B
Poetic Form
Metre 11011 101011 01001010111 11011111011 101111111 11011001101 1110101011 1101101011 1100111011101 11011 11110 11011 11101001 110111101 111 11110 1111 1111001 110111111 110111111 1101 1101 111 11111111
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 741
Words 172
Sentences 19
Stanzas 10
Stanza Lengths 4, 1, 2, 2, 2, 3, 3, 3, 3, 1
Lines Amount 24
Letters per line (avg) 22
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 53
Words per stanza (avg) 14

About this poem

I wrote this poem when my nephew died of an overdose. I put myself in his shoes and wrote of what must have been his struggle.

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Written on August 01, 2022

Submitted by LatinX on April 13, 2024

51 sec read
144

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