"Wheels" by Jim Daniels

Jim Daniels, in his poem "Wheels," believes that life flies by quickly and, if not appreciated, will go by the wayside. He exercises a regretful, sorrowful tone along with asyndeton and repetitive imagery to convince the reader of this pervasive belief. He begins by iterating the imagery of his brother's wall, skipping conjunctions to add this repetitive, endless effect: "every motorcycle, car, truck." Further on, Daniels neglects to add conjunctions (or proper syntax) between lines to achieve a timeless element to the poem that shows how quickly life goes by. He also repeats "waving" every three lines in order to convey a changing picture and life, but without having time pass on. Finally, his brother is "waving waving," as there is "no camera to save him" from his destiny as a forgotten individual with a life completed. Daniels utilizes asyndeton and repetitive imagery to have the images of his brother's life change but time to continue on mercilessly, as he proves that life can go by without anyone being there to capture it, for sometimes it is necessary to simply take a second to snap a picture.