Cartoon Physics, Part 1

The poem can be found here

I really like this poem because I can relate to it. I remember the days and the antics of Looney Toons and I remember enjoying it. My initial reaction to the poem was that I was familiar with what Nick Flynn was talking about. Flynn is trying to say what Physics a ten-year old would know, which is whatever cartoons showed them. In this case, the physics of cartoons such as Looney Toons.

In the first line where he says that children under 10 shouldn't know about the universe ever-expanding, he is saying that children don't need to know about it. The cartoons showing them how physics doesn't work is good for their imaginations. On the other hand, he could also be saying how children shouldn't be around these cartoons showing them the wrong way the world works. He seems almost sarcastic at the end when he says that a child will enter a burning house and come out a hero.

This is a free verse poem, with randomly sized lines in stanzas with a random amount of lines in each one. There is no rhyme scheme, and sentences run on through as much as a few stanzas. There aren't any metaphors or similes because Flynn is just stating what is going on with the cartoons in mind.