Mail - My Poem Writing Year #195

Original Handwritten Letter 

John Conolly to Edythe Toebe

E-mail Version 

John Conolly's Letter to Edythe Toebe

Students - One of my favorite poems is "Alley Violinist" by Robert Lax.  I love this poem because it asks the reader a direct question, and after you read the last line, you need to answer the question to yourself.  What would I do?

What do you wonder?  Sometimes it is fun to ask your reader a question straight-out in the body of a poem.  Be direct.  See what your readers say.

This is a compare/contrast poem, much like "Two Clocks",  which compares analog and digital clocks.  It's fun to take two different-yet-alike things, such as clocks or mail, and to explore their similarities and differences.  Just think about your life.  What things are different than they were long ago?  How is this good?  How is it not-so-good?

In case you were wondering, the letter above is a real letter written by my great grandfather to my great aunt.  I scanned in the original handwritten version as well as a typed version so that you could think about and talk about which you would rather receive.  It's an interesting question with no right answer, just a personal answer.

For another poem about mail, the mailbox kind, take a walk back in time to Poem #28, "Snail Mail".

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