Shape Poem: You Too? Me Too--Why Not? Soda Pop

For my shape poem I chose You Too? Me Too--Why Not? Soda Pop by Robert Hollander, which is on page 1137 of the Norton.

Obviously, this poem is shaped like a Coke bottle, which speaks to its main purpose. Right in the middle, the only thing that stands out is "COCA-COLA" in capital letters, solidifying this as a homage to Coke. The speaker describes the color in great detail, repeating the colors green and brown over and over. At the end, the brown of the coke in his glass seems to engulf his surroundings, casting "a brown shade." Though in some contexts, a brown shade would be less than appealing, in this poem it is comforting and evokes the image of hard-working, dedicated Americans who make the "deep-aged / rich brown wine of America," a title which shows how deeply ingrained Coca-Cola is in the American identity.

The poem also makes an allusion (a reference to something in literature, history, etc.) to the "beading of Hippocrene." Hippocrene is a fountain in Greek mythology whose water was said to bring "poetic inspiration" to whomever drank it. By using this allusion, the speaker goes as far to say that Coke inspires and revitalizes him. This also links back to the three "columns" at the beginning of the poem that make up the widening underneath the neck of the bottle. The fact that Coke is so important to the speaker shows how much of an American staple and pop-culture icon it is.