I’m cheating a bit and posting something I wrote last year. Give me a break, OK? I had to make pie! From scratch — crust and all! Anyway, excuses aside, I normally stay pretty clear of poetry, but this dropped out of my brain one day, and I kind of liked it. Hope you do, too.
YOU HAVE BEEN REPLACED
Dear Sir or Madam
We must express our sincerest regrets
And please know that you have our deepest apologies
But we simply must inform you
That you have been replaced.
Perhaps this comes as a shock, and perhaps it does not.
We didn’t quite see it coming ourselves
But foresight has never been a strong point for us.
At first we thought of the New Component
As nothing more than a simple accessory.
A supplement, if you will.
But as time moved forward
It became clear that there was a hole of sorts
A mold that needed to be filled
A mold that you had indeed created
And yet, you seemed to be outgrowing it.
Rebelling against it.
Trying to reshape it to your new form.
And we came to realize
It wasn’t you we needed.
We needed the mold.
And the mold needs to be filled.
And the New Component fits.
And so, while we know it might be awkward
To see yourself replaced
In niches, in requests, in photographs, in social situations, in minds, in hearts
Know that we enjoyed you while you were here
And we wish you the best
But the time has come
And you have been replaced.
All the best,
The Management
© 2009 Elizabeth Ditty
Nice.
I really have to ask: are you now, or have you ever been, a fan of THE TWILIGHT ZONE?
Well, it’s not that I’m not a fan so much as I just haven’t seen very many episodes. The ones I have seen, though, I’ve enjoyed. So… I guess I’m a potential fan? 🙂
Good enough for me. 🙂
Brought a wry smile to face 🙂 Nice poem.
I love the irony, wicked humor and truth of this piece. Well done.
Great piece! Isn’t it just the way of the world anymore?
Very familiar in this day and age!
Ths works very well
Nicely done!
And you made pie? Yum!
Ditto Laura and add that I liked it a lot.
ps: what kind of pie? [inquiring minds and all that]
Karen :0)
funny and very scary and probably mostly true. hey..nothing wrong with sharing old work in new light with new readers.. a great way to make something dormant come back to life! I recycle liberally!
@karen from mentor, it was Pear-Apple Pie with a Cheddar-Infused Crust. I linked to a picture of it. And, if I do say so myself, it was pretty yummy. I am also, however, the messiest pie-maker ever, I’ve found.
@Michael J. Solender, I’d never actually shared this with more than a few close friends because it was rather personal, especially when I wrote it. Nice call on that one. 🙂 But I figured it was time to get it out into the open.
Thanks so much for your comments, everyone! 🙂 They are VERY much appreciated!
*Sob*
I mean….. I thought you liked me *sob*
I tried, and tried, and tried *sob*, but it’s so, so hard and I just couldn’t keep it up. I thought the effort I’d put in would be worth something though. *sob*
Oh well *sniffle*
It least I don’t have to share my lottery win.
PS, Seriously though, I rather liked it.
I like the concept, but I feel like it’s missing something. There isn’t enough substance for a poem of this length and especially the last stanza bothers me. I was waiting for some sort of “punchline” in the ending. And then it was just very anticlimactic and it didn’t seem to me like it should have been.
But I guess it’s possible that I missed something.
Sorry you didn’t like it. Thanks for letting me know.
This is LOLer. You and your lovely British humor. Well the way I see it. Because I’m pointed like that. Ballsy and awesome Ditty!
I loved it. It’s got this creepy “body snatcher” vibe… very cool. I look forward to reading more.
~2
Love it! I admit I had to read it twice though. The first time all I could think about was your pie.
Feel free to recycle your poems anytime. Also, more pictures of your pies wouldn’t hurt either. 🙂
~chris
The subject of you poem is an intriguing and slightly creepy vision. The image of a person as a mold, a negative space that needs filling is particularly vivid. You should write more poetry if this is the type of thing you come up with.
thanks for the link to the pic of the pie…..laughing…. that’s a great looking pie.
My birthday’s coming up…..do you bake pumpkin?
Wow, a great story and a lovely dessert…..it’s like a dream come true…well except for the part where I can only LOOK at the dessert…..oh dear…I guess that’s more of a nightmare. *sigh*
:0)
Given the choice of old poetry and fresh pie or fresh poetry and old pie…
Seriously, this was worth digging out and dusting off for us. Thanks!
Wonderful! What is this, flash prose poetry? But it’s a letter. A memo. Flash memo poetry. Definitely poetry. Definitely flash. Definitely a memo-like, uh, thing. So yeah, I guess that’s it. Nicely done. I especially like the concept of the mold of oneself (ones professional self) being replaced by a component.
Jeff Posey
Good concept and good execution on it. I enjoyed this one.
I liked this a lot. And no worry about posting something old. No rules against that.
This flows very nicely, as a poem should. It seems to have a natural rhythm. It’s light and fun, while at the same time hints at real problems, particularly in this economy. My favorite part was this:
In niches, in requests, in photographs, in social situations, in minds, in hearts
Know that we enjoyed you while you were here
And we wish you the best
And don’t let the door kick you on the way out! 😉
~jon