Original poem reprinted online here: "Old Men Pitching Horseshoes" by X.J Kennedy Originally read: August 2013 More information about the Poet: X.J Kennedy AABB rhyme scheme. Why? There seems to be a separation of the current and the past in the poem and each seem too separate to intertwine. The rhyme scheme does add a sing song quality to the poem at times, but, I feel, the rhyme scheme adds a sense of "pleasant" nostalgia. In the first stanza, the current is in a narrative voice. "Back in a yard where ringers groove a ditch , These four in shirtsleeves congregate to pitch / Dirt-burnished iron." The description is constructed tightly, the verbs "groove" "congregate" focus on visual action; meanwhile, the "shirtsleeves" and the "Dirt- burnished iron" brings visual based on objects. The scene is vivid and described to be alive and in the present -- setting wise at least. "With appraising eye, / One sizes ...
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