Follow The Rules
Throughout the poem, “Chain-Letter Pantoum,’’ the author Vince Gotera utilizes the form’s repeated end words to develop the idea that consequences occur if you don’t follow the rules. The pantoum addresses a variety of stories about different people who received chain mail. The chain reaction from not following what was instructed leads to horrible consequences. For instance, “Jeff Slaymaker of Cleveland, Ohio laughed when he got this. Wonderful rewards to follow! Love makes it all possible. He lost both his legs in a terrible car crash” (Gotera 260). The close proximity of fortune and loss in this stanza reinforces the idea that if this person were to have followed the rules disclosed in the chain mail, then he most likely wouldn’t have lost both his legs. In the pantoum form, both the second line and fourth line of this stanza are repeated into the next stanza to reinforce the action taken by “Jeff,” and the consequence for not following it. This type of repetition happens through all the stanzas developing a chain effect.
Another example that shows certain line repetition is, “Jesus Matamoros of Bogota, Colombia paid no attention, and let godawful events happen in his family! That day, his wife and five children left him” (Gotera 260). Similar to the last quotation the action which the person takes, and the effect of that action is repeated in the following stanza. Gotera’s usage of specific line repetition hyperbolically drives home the message that being a rule breaker has the capabilities to cause consequences which in this case led to horrible outcomes for each person.
Gotera, Vince. “Chain-Letter Pantoum.” An Exaltation of Forms: Contemporary Poets Celebrate the Diversity of Their Art. Edited by Anne Finch and Kathrine Varnes, U of Michigan P, 2002, p. 260.
