A Day in the Life

Here's an email I sent to my suitemates over the weekend.

Hey, ladies!

It's been a while since I've sent a list of grievances, and I didn't know what to do with myself....until this morning. (The plot thickens!)

Text: "An Episode in a Moldy Shower"
There once was a girl who liked showers
And took them at all different hours.
She did look down the drain,
and it made her exclaim,
"Egads, a veritable hair tower!"

Summary
The narrator is unnamed in the poem, but we know, from the extensive letters between the poet and the Duke of Toilette discussing the collection of poems it comes from, that the poem is about a girl named M. Some believe this M to be the poet, Meredith Hitchcock, projected into literature. M is the poet herself, but also the everywoman, suffering the world's indignities. In the poem, the reader learns that she showers with frequency, and enjoys doing so at all different times of day. The narrative takes a dramatic turn when Meredith's favorite shower (she has a favorite sink, too, as far as scholars can tell from the fragment of a short story) floods in a dramatic fashion. Curious, she reaches down and pulls some hair sitting on top of the drain. The drain cover comes unstopped, and Meredith discovers a six-inch-long wad of various people's hair that has been hanging down below the drain cover for some time. What she has unsuspectingly pulled on is the dome of this extensive hair tower, braided through the grate. She expresses shock and displeasure upon finding this, and throws the hair wad into the trash.

Form and Themes
"An Episode in a Moldy Shower" is generally considered one of Hitchcock's more poignant poems. There is a contrast between the dramatic, upsetting content of the poem and the choice of a comic poem form, the limerick. It highlights the dark comedy of the experience for M. Note that the pain from the narrative cannot be contained within the limerick, and the last line of the poem has an extra syllable. The pain expands beyond any normal conventions, busting out from the restraints the poet tries to place on it.

So, in conclusion, please throw your hair away or knit a scarf out of it, but don't let it "go" down the drain. I know none of you are really interested in seeing my B-grade horror movie, "When Hair Wads Attack!"

<3
Meredith

P.S.
A short game. One of these things is not like the others:
1. aeronautical engineering
2. putting a new roll of toilet paper in a bathroom stall
3. finding Mr. Right

I'll give you a hint: the category is "things that are difficult."

The god of complaining is appeased!