By Pamela den Ouden
A simple task—
mailing a book of poetry to a friend
I wrap carefully
cheery birthday paper
party hats and streamers
in neon pink and green
(a padded envelope
assures arrival in good shape)
to save five percent
I print my own shipping label
from the Canada Post web site
sender information . . .
recipient address . . .
payment method . . .
a few more clicks on the keyboard
and the printer hums
As I cut on the dotted line
to separate label from receipt
I read the fine print
in both official languages:
The sender warrants that this item
does not contain dangerous goods
L’expéditeur garantit que cet envoi
ne contient pas de matières dangereuses
I put the scissors down
In all good conscience
I cannot mail it
On my next trip south
I hand-deliver the book
LOVED reading this; LOVE this poem! was wondering about something: a technical - and maybe teeny - thing, but i'm always curious about how people choose to use upper and lower case. i notice the two mid-sections: "to save five percent" and "sender information" do not start off capitalized. (if i may be so bold as to probe the writer's process!) what was the poet's thinking here?
ReplyDeleteGood question! I see that upper-case letters are not part of your writing repertoire, except for emphasis.
ReplyDeleteMaybe I should have given more thought to this aspect!! (All writing can be helped by a good editor!)
You notice that I always use an upper-case letter for the personal pronoun "I." Generally, to separate "sentences" or sections, a capital letter is useful, especially in a poem that uses hardly any sentence-ending punctuation.
Going by this, yes, the section beginning "To save five percent" probably should have started with a capital.
The section, sender information . . . and the next two lines are supposedly from the Canada Post web site, so I left them without capitals.
That was my thinking, as far as it went (obviously, not far enough!)
Thank you very much for this helpful comment. I'll watch my p's and q's more carefully next time!
glad to have your reply. but no, no, no ~ i was definitely not trying to be "helpful" or suggesting anything "should" be capitalized ... just curious about the poet's thinking and choices here! thanks for the peek inside!
ReplyDelete