Yours Truly 2017 / Cascadia College / Bothell, WA 2017 YT Online Book | Page 58

Parsons
Messages
56
Letter writing was the sum of my adolescence:
From all the blessings and successes
To the messes and pressing stresses
Lessened by
Receiving words with an envelope as a vessel
Sent by dear friends in faraway places.
They were lessons —
Of how sometimes,
The people who hear you best
Live a million miles away.
Some people prob’ly think I talk too much
But what do I really say?
Well, what I don’t say to you
I say to pen pals in my messages
I spit it out on paper like a child with medicine.
My words go before me like a warning,
Like a presage —
What I say is sometimes less than expressive
But get me a pen and paper
And what I’ll write is more than excessive.
What I write is also less than impressive
But that’s the point —
In writing letters,
I am never aiming to impress
I am aiming for progress
And I succeeded, or at least I found the essence
Of opening up, of speaking, of revealing.
I guess letter writing is only the beginning.