Twenty-six characters

Have I repeated myself?
            Yes, to excess.
If it is any consolation,
that too
            has been done.
And if this were a real poem-
            it would be a brush painted kanji-
symbolically inexplicable
            by its symbiotic smooth strokes.
It is flow.

So seriously, let us not pretend
            emphasis-a stress-is an echo-as an anaphora
Although,
            the lines look the same,
they are not along the same lines
bound by words
imitating poetry
that is never new-
but you knew This
I have painted it before.



Image from decalrocket.com

Accusations to try

I did not break in or force my way through
I did not let go
                         too early
I did not make you
                         do, say, or think maybe there is
                         more
I did not know more than you
I did not
                          do anything
About it
I did dig (in)
                          deeper than the surface layer
I did
          hang on
                          longer than I should
I did give all I had, every day
                           which was not enough
                           somedays
I did want to quit
but did not.
I did grow too fast
                             and hit my head
                             on your ceiling
I did (not do)
        all I could
to (not) deny
all that I
did
and I
did
not
do
enough
for I
before it was all
                          over
                          done and said.



Image By Arrow Films (site poster) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.