Poem Written by Ron's Second Best Pen

I am Ron Silliman's second best pen.
Boy, I wish I had a chance to play in the big leagues some day!

***

This poem contains allusions to the following:

1. The second-best pen is a verbal echo of Shakespeare's "second best bed," which he famously left to his wife Anne Hathaway in his will.

2. The idea of a poem spoken humorously by an inanimate object is taken from Kenneth Koch's "Poems Written by Ships at Sea" and from some of the exercises in Wishes, Lies, and Dreams..

3. The reference to the "big leagues" refers to Ron Silliman's love of baseball. The analogy is that a pen to a poet is like a baseball bat to a baseball player. The second best pen wants a chance to write some of Ron's big league poetry, but is forced to do more mundane tasks.

4. The unspoken object of jealousy is, of course, Ron's special poetry writing pen.

5. But you already understood all of this. What am I explaining it to you for?