Orthographic
2023On a piece of olive oil stained card stock from that restaurant
Up the road, thought it better than the phone calls we ordered
Fault the fountain pen for the dust storms
I could never see more than a few inches ahead of me
Enough to gage the tendon flex concreted grasp on the nib
And I could never picture how you’d tear through the envelope
Or if you’d leave it sitting upon your chestnut vanity
Between unsharpenable pencils and those matches you keep
I thought long about how much air it takes
To move an envelope across the country or
Across the sea, those muslin vessels and
The number of Dears within (how could we all be so?)
A letter catapulting through the breeze
Unable to land, la cursive on the blackboard,
Dropping a briefcase into the river returning from work
The only mail I get is postcards from far away suburbs
I’ve hollered it all into a few small lines
Estimated reading time,
four minutes
Thought that whatever ink crept from my pen
Would leave my body like blood from a gash
Instead it was threads, pulled and pulled
From here to there; each one an axon afar within
I’ve erased novels for you
How could you expect a letter?
I’ve moved along with them
Stamps enough and address
Illegible