The Plum Strikes Back

I am Legally Required to Say
I have filed
for divorce
as of one
yesterday

I am
taking the house
and the
red Ferrari

Please pick
up our son from
daycare he
is all yours

This poem follows the form of This Is Just to Say but differs greatly in the nature of the subject material. The consumed plums, the subject of Williams’ poem are inconsequential in the both the narrator and the recipient’s life. However, this divorce notice will significantly affect the lives of the narrator and the recipient. The original poem makes light of the idea of an unabashed admission of guilt for a minor transgression. This parody imagines a world where this cavalier attitude is extended to all aspects of life. Although the subject mater of the original poem is rather light, the narrator’s apparent lack of compassion for the feeling of his companion, his lack of remorse for inconveniencing her, is disconcerting. One wonders if this is simply one more example of self-centeredness on the narrator’s part and if so, whether this would cause the companion to realize that she was in a less than loving relationship. In this parody, she responds in kind, this last incident finally pushed her over the edge and she wants no more to do with the original narrator. She doesn’t even want to interact with their son any longer since he is a reminder of her former relationship with the original narrator. The narrator of the parody responds the original narrator with the same lack of compassion and detached disinterest that characterize the original narrator. The form is closely mimicked; in all but several lines the number of syllables in the parody are the same as in the original poem. The structure with three stanzas of four lines is used, along with a title that can be read as the first line of the poem. The parody is therefore comprehensive in that the content and form mirror that of the original poem while mocking the attitude of the narrator of the original poem.