I used to know a girl named,
Sincerely.
***
When she moved away,
I was sad,
so, I tried to write her a
letter
to express all the things
that were in my heart.
***
It was a very short letter.
***
It began,
“Dear Sincerely,
George.
***
P.S. It seems, once again,
I have run out of room
before
I could say all that I want
to say”
ii.
Then, at the bottom of the letter,
I added a bunch of X’s and O’s.
adding,
“This is what tic-tac-toe
looks like unbridled
by the number sign.”
Legend says,
a young Abraham Lincoln
once walked five miles
just to deliver a letter,
& that he
carried it with him underneath
his tall
stove pipe hat.
ii.
When he finally
arrived,
a tired Lincoln removed
his hat
and presented the letter.
The family was grateful,
but visibly dismayed to
find the letter covered with
sweat,
oil,
and coarse black hair,
that wreathed the letter
like a holiday ribbon.
iii.
Not wanting to insult
Young Abraham,
the family nevertheless would
only accept the letter using
a set of tongs.
iv.
The unflappable A. Lincoln
merely laughed.
And when the letter was opened,
the family laughed, too,
for inside the envelope
was a shampoo sample
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Sometimes I’ll be deep into the writing of a letter
& suddenly notice that the paper in front of me
is totally blank.
Then I have to wonder, have I been writing this letter
with invisible ink,
or, has my pen run dry?
OK, I say to myself — think! who is it that I am writing to?
Oh yeh — a spy!
e.e. cummings
was such a major
influence on me
during my youth,
that I vowed that
every-thing I would
henceforth say
would be in
lower case letters.
***
And I have never broken that vow.
t r e f o l o g y 