! Dear Poemhunter Correspondent Poem by Michael Shepherd

Thank you for your last message;
it was good of you to write
and at such length..

I’d just like to say first
as a preamble
well a short preamble
let’s say a presprint that’s pre-sprint

and as you must know by now,
I tend to be rather fussy and academic
about punctuation
though I’d like to say
that from my point of view
this arises from a love of punctuation
which is to me as
those pauses which lovers share
between remarks –
those pauses when their silent minds
rejoice in that unity of selves and
rejoice in the completeness
of their own self
as reflected in the lover – as
Plato and Shankara and others not yet known to me alas
agree

so, that said,
and I hope you’re
still with me on this,
I’d like to mention what
may be a small point to you…
well, this is it:

when you rounded off your very
self-revealing and self-analytical
study of yourself in depth:

Love Sally

I was drawn to wonder
if the absent comma
was an oversight..
which can so easily happen
in these hurried times

or perhaps a Freudian slip
which we might discuss at length

or a deep wish, which
might have implications
for our formal relationship
which we would also need to discuss at length

or simply a command

I look forward to your reply
to what I hope you appreciate
is a sensitive and well-meaning
question which might forward
our discussion of your poetry in depth?

PS there’s no need
to reply at length to this
possibly trivial matter
on this occasion..