I hesitate to publish this letter, but I’m afraid it’s the only way to make sure the sender gets the message. Savvy readers will recognize the party in question, a certain Society for Haiku Preservation in the English Language.
Dear Esoteric Literary Reference,
We at the Society for Haiku Preservation in the English Language loved your letter of response! We were delighted that you took time to respond, but more delighted still that you did so entirely in haiku format. Just look at some of these gems:
“In fact, we mostly
like haikus because they’re short-
er than most other
things. Haiku Wednes-
days would be Screenplay Wednes-
days if screenplays were
only three lines long.
So thanks for the offer, but
Esoteric Lit-“
And it goes on from there! Every word of your letter was a haiku, and I’m sure there were layers of meaning we have thus far only begun to uncover. Brilliant! Incorrectly referring to haiku in the plural as “haikus” was likewise brilliant. Pure tongue-in-cheek hilarity.
We also agree with your assertion about the Keats/Yeats pronunciation.
Welcome to the Society,
The Society for Haiku Preservation in the English Language
Dear SHPEL,
Are you serious? First of all, I told you I did NOT want to join your weird club. So take me off of your mailing lists. As I’ve told you repeatedly via email, your newsletters are dry and lacking in 21st Century relevance. Plus, whoever draws those cartoons just isn’t funny. Deal with it.
It astounds me that I have to be the one to tell you this, but those “haiku” of mine that I posted were not haiku at all. They weren’t even poetry. You just took my letter and divided it into chunks of syllables. Poetry is more than just formatting. How could you not know that?
And that Keats/Yates thing was a joke. I was making fun of you.
Are you happy that I had to publicly shame you? I’m not proud of this post. Seriously, I don’t want to join your stupid club. Tell Nancy to stop calling and asking who my plus-one will be for your annual gala. I’m not going because I’m not a member.
Not joking,
Esoteric Literary Reference Letter Reply Dept.
(Steve)
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2 comments:
Go easy on those nerds over at SHPEL. They're obviously just trying to jump on the Steve Thees bandwagon now that it's common knowledge you are about to be wildly famous...
Can you blame them? I'm doing the same thing.
Maybe you're right. They are well-intentioned.
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