Monday, October 11, 2010

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".

(Please click on COMMENTS below to share a thought.)

2 comments:

  1. The letter that you have posted on your site was written by my great-grandfather, John Conolly. My great-aunt, Tom, (Edythe) was my grandmother's, (Grace Elsa Conolly Blevins) sister. What a wonderful discovery... thank you for posting!

    Kathleen Blevins Angelucci

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  2. Kathleen, Does this make us second cousins? I am so excited and thank you for commenting! My e-mail address is amy at amy lv dot com, and I would love to "chat"! All Best...a.

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