I got this in my inbox this morning:
It’s been over a decade since
I subcribed to your magazine,
but you used to publish a yearly edition of the top US industrial areas, by city.Do you still do that, and if so, when was the last month and when will it appear again? Thank you.
I’m sure he didn’t mean it, but he has a real rhythm here . . . two 8-syllable lines, two lines of 24(ish), with the pause before the final two beats, “areas, by city.” is echoed with “again? Thank you.”
And what subject holds more pathos than a wistful look back at a magazine subscription left to die? This e-mail is about the relentless nature of change, and, although he is trying to hold on to something, the reader knows that, of course, there is no longer a yearly edition of the top US industrial areas, by city. That time is past.
4 Responses to Accidental poem at work from funky e-mail line breaks
Kris, you must be reeeally bored to see a poem in that. I suggest you step away from the laptop and go outside for a breath of fresh air. Breathe in aaandd out. Mmmm, don’t you feel better now?
He DEFINITELY needs to go out side, but, I don’t know– something about “by city” seems poetic to me too…
you should reply with the photo from the photo caption contest, or make the photo a part of your electronic signature and just write something like “times a changed.”
You’ve ruined the poem completely for me, Kris, with your cold hard analysis of its artistry.