Our Poetic Customers—or, When Products Become Poetry

Our customers amaze me with all they accomplish, both in their vocations and avocations. So perhaps I shouldn’t have been surprised last month when, in honor of Poetry Month, we asked customers to submit product reviews in the form of poems. We promptly received more than 140.

 You can now read these poetic reviews on products as diverse as our Bomber Jacket Messenger and our lap desks and pens. Some are serious, others whimsical, many funny. Some rhyme, some flow in free verse. A couple add poetry to poetry, as in the case of our Rare Words II book, which uses poetic whimsy to define words so rare and fair. 

We now have our own definition of poetic justice, for what we’ve discovered is that customers find other customers’ poetic reviews not just fun but helpful, too. I’d like to share three of them with you here:

 On our Circa Bookcloth notebooks, penned by “Executive Assistant” of Vandalia, Illinois:

I'm a Circa Star
with the silver rings...
the envy of those
with just the spiral things.

In deep dark purple
my clothbound book;
I take it to meetings
colleagues question and look.

Get your Circa—
Levenger Rocks!
It will come to you
in an awesome green box.

On the Levenger Shirt Pocket Briefcase, Case for a Poem written by “Compulsive Writer” of Clarksville, Tennessee:

Notes etched in my palm.
A pocket for storing thoughts.
One for dreams to come.

And finally, this review of our Midnight Reader Table Lamp by “J-Nelly” of Sugar Land, Texas: 

I lay awake
My eyes open wide
My husband is snoring
Loudly at my side.

I reach for my copy
of Edgar Allan Poe
And read long into the night
Under the Midnight Reader’s glow.

Beneath its crisp, clear light
The day’s troubles are well foregone
Although now I've visions of ravens and floorboards
So I think I'll leave the light on.

My warm wishes and thanks to all of you who have written a review—poetic or not—for the benefit of fellow customers. Ogden Nash would be proud.

Your comments—poetic or not—are always welcome.  Just click on the Comments link below with your submission. (If you’re reading this as an email, click here and you'll connect to Comments).

Comments

[John R. Meengs]

Steve, This is more a question than a comment. Being an authority on fountain pens, what reference book(s) do you recomend for a novice collector of vintage fountain pens? Thanks I certainly enjoy your blog and of course, your catalogue.

[Steve Leveen]

Dear John,

Nice to meet a fellow aficionado of the nib! Your timing is ideal, as Levenger is planning to offer a new book that traces the history of many of the leading makers of fountain pens. It's called The Ultimate Book of Pens and should be available in a few weeks. It won't be in our catalog, but it will be in our stores. If you'd like a copy, let me know and we'll get in touch when it's in store.

All best,
Steve