Legal Alien

“Legal Alien” is a 22-line poem consisting of a single stanza written in free verse. The poem is written in English but contains a single line of Spanish. It lacks any rhyme scheme or formal meter and employs enjambment in which each line runs into the next.

Most contemporary poetry is written in free verse, which follows humans’ natural speech patterns and rhythms. This form (or lack thereof) gives the writer freedom in choosing words and constructing lines without having to conform to a specific meter. Similarly, this unconstrained form reflects the story of “Legal Alien,” in which the speaker refuses to be placed into a specific box to be considered acceptable to others.

Anaphora, a type of repetition where words or phrases are repeated at the beginning of a line, appears several times throughout this poem. Lines 2, 4, and 6 are parallel, all beginning with the phrase “able to,” and Lines 9 and 11 repeat the phrase “viewed by.” Anaphora can be used to create rhythm or emphasis, but here it is mainly used to contrast ideas.