LAST WEEK, or maybe it was two weeks ago, I received an email at work signed off in neon pink.
The color of the font of the text that spelled out the sender’s name was neon pink. Literally neon pink. I’m talking glow sticks at a K-pop concert, or Jane Fonda’s leggings, or Nicki Minaj’s hair at one point. It was neon freakin’ pink.
I noticed the pinkness of the signature because, well, it was unusual in Corporate Canada, or maybe even in Corporate Everywhere, to sign off your emails with something so…vibrant. Companies typically have standard email signature templates, which I am 85% sure rarely involve the color pink. And if it does, I don’t think the hue will be as bright and as explosive as neon pink’s.
But it wasn’t just the radiance of the font’s pinkness that caught my eye. There was a quote under the signature too — oh yes, my friends, there was a quote which, mind you, was also in neon pink. It was a platitude that says, “Stars can’t shine without darkness.” Now isn’t that sweet?
It’s weird, a colleague said. How unprofessional.
I suppose it was, indeed, unprofessional. I can’t judge them though. When I was still in the Philippines, I knew people who customized their email signatures like how they customized their social media profiles, adding sappy sayings and cheesy salutations instead of the usual “cheers” or “thanks” or “regards.” If they could add shimmering glitters and Fergie’s “Big Girls Don’t Cry” on scroll, I’m sure they would.
But, going back to the quote, it oddly reminded me of a Linda Pastan poem. I knew Pastan had a poem about darkness, but I couldn’t pin my finger on what it was until tonight.
Why Are Your Poems So Dark?
by Linda Pastan
Isn't the moon dark too,
most of the time?
And doesn't the white page
seem unfinished
without the dark stain
of alphabets?
When God demanded light,
he didn't banish darkness.
Instead he invented
ebony and crows
and that small mole
on your left cheekbone.
Or did you mean to ask
"Why are you sad so often?"
Ask the moon.
Ask what it has witnessed.
Beautiful, eh? A little neon pink could cut through the grey of corporate slavery, is my not-so-brilliant takeaway.
sure. wait. what? 
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