Sign Inventory 1 Week 4

Nonessential Equipment

The dog and I are the first among those things

that will not be deployed with him. Forget

civilian clothes as well. He shouldn’t bring

too many photographs, which might get wet,

the faces blurred. He only needs a set

of uniforms. Even his wedding ring

gives pause (what if it fell?—he’d be upset

to dent or scratch away the gold engraving).

The seabag must be light enough to sling

across his shoulder, weight almost nothing,

each canvas pocket emptied of regret.

The trick is packing less. No wife, no pet,

no perfumed letters dabbed with I-love-yous,

or anything he can’t afford to lose.

                               Jehanne Dubrow

-Uses the sonnet form.

-Employs rhyme- (ababbabaaabbcc)

  A much more detectible rhyme in 9-14

-Many of the lines end un-stressed.

-Strange moment in the 14^th line with the italicized “I-love-yous”

-The wife and dog are strangely compared to inanimate objects.

-Or perhaps the wife and pet are compared to luggage: “the seabag must be light enough to sling, / across his shoulder, weight almost nothing” (9-10).

-A capitalized “the” is the only word used at the beginning of lines. 

-Alliteration of sorts: “scratch” (8), “seabag…sling” (9), “shoulder” (10). And again: “pocket” (11), “packing” (12), and “perfumed” (13).