Apollo

“Apollo” is a seven-stanza poem with four lines per stanza, with one final line ending the poem, separated into its own (eighth) stanza. The poem is written in free verse with no set rhyme scheme or meter. Most lines are short, between four and six syllables, with some longer lines reaching up to eight syllables. Told from the first-person point of view, in the present tense, the poem begins with an action (“We pull off” [Line 1]) setting the poem into motion. The first stanza sets the scene: A family, likely on a road trip, stops at “a road shack” (Line 2). They’re in Massachusetts, and they’ve stopped for a specific reason: “to watch men walk / on the moon” (Lines 4-5). The first stanza places the speakers in this roadside scene to set up what will become the poem’s argument.

Through short, clipped lines, Alexander’s lines are heavily enjambed. Enjambment is the continuation of a sentence or clause across a line break. In French, this word means “a striding over” and creates the feeling of suspension between lines, and often a feeling of surprise.