William's Parody

I Am Telling You

I am leaving
tonight
before you
get off work

I have
taken the couch
and the
computer

I also
cleared all our accounts
and I
took the dog

This is my parody of William Carlos William's "This is Just to Say," although my version has a more serious tone. My poem takes leaving apologetic notes to another level. William's "This is Just to Say" is a man leaving his wife a sarcastic note about eating plums that he was not suppose to, mine is about someone leaving a relationship and taking everything along. Serious issues are suppose to be dealt with in person or in a formal setting but instead, leaving a note about ending a relationship could be just as effective, as in this case. Similar to William's poem, the speaker in this poem is neither sorry nor serious-minded, instead they are comical and insensitive. William made note-leaving more than just about leaving a notice, he made the note-leaving process more like telling a story or having a conversation. Taking that into perspective, I wrote a poem about the ending of a relationship, a woman leaving her husband a note about leaving him and taking all his stuff while he was at work. Just like Williams, the note is telling a story and the woman is having a one-way conversation with her absent husband.