QE II is the Ocean Liner
Dear Queen Elizabeth,
Your Majesty,
I found a pencil sharpener that belongs to you
with E II R under a little crown stamped on it.
I picked it out from other pencil sharpeners not yours,
stamped QE II
(how clever and non-American of me
to know the difference)
in the Toronto Reference Library lost-and-found,
not the library of the QE II,
where, I understand, they give out pencil sharpeners
rather than baseball caps or magnets.
Dear Magnate Queen,
I want you to know how happy I am to have
from among all the riches in the world
this pencil sharpener,
which I’d also be happy to return to you
if only you’d say the word.
Then I'd have a word from you
or else this pencil sharpener stamped E II R
under a little crown, either way
one step a little closer to the riches of the world.
.
by Marvyne Jenoff
from Crackerjack Umbrella
Twoffish Press, 2008