I received a letter from an old friend yesterday–a literal letter. It was such a treat and made me realize how much, in the age of email and facebook, I miss getting actual handwritten letters. What about you? Do you miss getting a personal letter in the mail? What was the last piece of real mail that you received?
Elegy for the Personal Letter
I miss the rumpled corners of correspondence,
the ink blots and crossouts that show
someone lives on the other end, a person
whose hands make errors, leave traces.
I miss fine stationary, its raised elegant
lettering prominent on creamy shades of ivory
or pearl grey. I even miss hasty notes
dashed off on notebook paper, edges
ragged as their scribbled messages—
can’t much write now—thinking of you.
When letters come now, they are formatted
by some distant computer, addressed
to Occupant or To the family living at—
meager greetings at best,
salutations made by committee.
Among the glossy catalogs
and one time only offers
the bills and invoices,
letters arrive so rarely now that I drop
all other mail to the floor when
an envelope arrives and the handwriting
is actual handwriting, the return address
somewhere I can locate on any map.
So seldom is it that letters come
That I stop everything else
to identify the scrawl that has come this far—
the twist and the whirl of the letters,
the loops of the numerals. I open
those envelopes first, forgetting
the claim of any other mail,
hoping for news I could not read
in any other way but this.
“Elegy for the Personal Letter” by Allison Joseph, from My Father’s Kites. ©
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
From facebook friends when asked: Do you miss getting handwritten, personal letters?
“I do, but I am horrible at writing them, so don’t really “deserve” them….so I’m glad for email ’cause I write them a lot and hear back from friends far away…but yeah, letters hold a certain excitement an email never could” A.K.
“Guilty! letters are so much more personal than email but if I didn’t use the electonic world I would lose contact with so many people” – Lisa
Here’s a comment from an email subscriber, with a totally different point of view:
“Actually, I don’t miss anything at all. I consider personal emails from friends to be “real letters.” And whenever I get a missive from a few friends who handwrite them, I wonder how rude it would be to ask them to use a computer, or at least a typewriter, so I could actually decipher the news they’re trying to share.
Enjoying your emailed blog! Ro…”
Another one from of my wonderful email subscribers, edited down to keep out the more personal details (Keep ‘em coming folks!):
“Hi Susan,
I love the poem by Allison Joseph. Believe it or not, I do have a few friends with whom I still communicate via “snail mail”…It is so true; there is nothing quite like a handwritten letter. Our time is the greatest gift we can share with anyone, and when someone actually sits down and composes a letter to you, it’s even better than a phone call, because you can keep it, and read it again and again. It’s the next best thing to a visit. I also remember a time when people took pride in their penmanship…Technology is great, when it’s working properly, but I wouldn’t want to see an end to the personal touch.” -T
I used to write my friends loooooong letters in college. Now, these were written on a computer (I owned the very first Macintosh back in 1984, and had it for ten years!!) and printed, but they were my words. One was so long I had to send it flat!
I never got anything remotely comparable back. I guess they just weren’t compulsive writers like I am.
So why did it take me so long to realize I wanted to be a professional writer?
Hi John,
Yep, it seems your destiny was to write! Keep going!!