A Chain-Letter Tragedy
The poem, Chain-Letter Pantoum, by Vince Gotera, follows the rules of the pantoum form of poetry, while simultaneously displaying what the consequences will be if you do not follow them…
The pantoum is a “…quatrain with an arab rhyme,” with each line consisting of about ten syllables. (Gotera 254). Also, this originally Malaysian form of poetry’s first two lines in the stanza connects to the last two lines by suggesting the meaning. (Gotera 254). However, as colonization occurred, the pantoum was altered. After being filtered through the French, the modern pantoums “…second and fourth lines of any stanza return as the first and third lines of the subsequent stanza.” (Gotera 255). The Chain-Letter Pantoum embodies the rather modern approach to pantoums, as it was written in 1990.
The dramatics of chain-mail language shines through in Vince Gotera’s Chain-Letter Pantoum. This pantoum outlines the tragic stories of three people who did not follow the chain-letter’s directions to send a copy of the letter to their five closest friends, and warns of “horrible consequences” if the deed was not done. (Gotera 260). These harsh penalties included becoming a double-amputee, being abandoned by all of one’s five kids and wife, and being robbed before one’s island getaway.
The structure is consistent with the modern, French approach to pantoums, with the second and fourth lines of the stanza connecting to the first and third of the next. Specifically, the lines, “Jeff Playmaker of Cleveland, Ohio, laughed when he got this” and “He lost both legs in a terrible car crash” are repeated as the first and third lines in the next stanza. (Gotera 260). The theme of detailing specific people’s consequences to not following the rules of the chain-letter is consistent throughout the poem, while staying true to the pantoum form.
To outline the significance of the chain-letters, Vince Gotera chains lines from stanza to stanza. This link between the chain-letters and the chained lines further establish the theme of the poem as well as the pantoum form.
Vince Gotera. “Chain-Letter Pantoum”, An Exaltation of Forms: Poets Celebrate the Diversity of Their Arts. Edited by Anne Finch and Kathrine Varnes. U of Michigan Press, 2002, p.260.
Vince Gotera. “The Pantoum’s Postcolonial Pedigree”, An Exaltation of Forms: Poets Celebrate the Diversity of Their Arts. Edited by Anne Finch and Kathrine Varnes. U of Michigan Press, 2002, p.254–255.
