I can't stop thinking about the chaotic beauty of the Dunkin sign.

UH OH SPICY!
PUMPKIN! HAHAHAHA
PUMPKIN TASTY

While not a standard 5-7-5 haiku, the text does have a symmetrical 4-6-4 structure, which gives it a satisfying sense of wholeness and logic, despite its nonsensical content.

Then there are the words themselves.

Just one noun — pumpkin — which is an overwhelmingly wholesome, nostalgic image. The word itself is a satisfying collision of aspirated and non-aspirated consonants. PUMP kin. Just a joy to say.

Two echoing adjectives: spicy and tasty, with those -y endings inviting you to smile as you say them aloud.

Two interjections: “Uh oh” and “hahahaha.” The first signals alarm or surprise. “Uh oh” also serves as a coy preface to something good but maybe just a little naughty? Then those four has come along to dissolve the tension.

As a whole the illogical message reflects our collective inability to cope with the trauma of our time — a staggering pandemic death toll, the relentless violence against Black bodies, mass unemployment, the isolation and angst that comes with quarantine.

Then there's bigger disconnect in the timing: It’s mid-August, still firmly summertime, but we’re being invited to relish the comforting tastes of fall.

All this to say I really wish Dunkin would bring the sign back and promote whoever wrote it.

It's a joy we hardly deserve.