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  • Georgie
    dear Georgie, yesterdayoutside the coffee shopa girl tells her mother            i wanna go sit in a churchand she doesn’t explainshe doesn’t qualifyher desire, just says itand mom, maybegiving up or something else,decides not to ask whyand the brother is…
  • Charlie
    dear Charlie, [ notes from the hospital, 2002 ]the carpet swims in here.can’t say if it’s the meds orjust the pattern. when i feelsick enough, everything swims.flowers jump out of the wall &float by. the docked canoe in thepicture…
  • Hanna
    dear Hanna, if you received correspondence from my husband (Old Fart),kindly disregard him. i hear the live shows playedeach morning from your computer& it’s not a sound i mind –choruses, refrains, mutedby insulation & wood beamssound like whistles on…
  • Peg
    dear Peg, i’m sorry it’s been so longsince i wrote you. you’re rightthat it’s a simple thing which counts for more than it’s worth. i just can’t seem to manage even the simple stuff – i leave groceries in…
  • Burt
    dear Burt, when i pick up my phoneit’s always upside down,wrong-ways up, flip-floppedand i try not to do this buti do arrive at the thought thatmy phone is a tarot cardthe symbol of Me –a thing made of numberspasswords…
  • Nico
    dear Nico, stuck on this thought lately:i want to write myself into an ’80s movie. any’ll do            even a slasher            even if i’m the            first to diebecause in the movies i thinkit’s mostly what some timewanted to be, not…
  • Sadie
    dear Sadie, wish i hadn’t laughed it offwhen you told me            kids sniff out fibs like            drug dogs to dimebagsdidn’t listen. even when you said            trust me it’s their            life’s work and            greatest calling,ever since the meat marketmy son…
  • Cassie
    dear Cassie, things i meant to say:bye, see ya later!, nicejacket, it complements —see ya round — because iintended to and you are not,unfortunately, hereall week. if you’ll excuse the exercise,let’s shift to hypothetical: i fear the ease withwhich…
  • Dr. Frank
    dear Dr. Frank, when i think of twodogs jostling for a stickin the park, i get thiscurious ache in my arm, around the bicep. i haveno dog, yet it seems a part of me holds leashes            and the leashes…
  • Clara
    dear Clara, i’m stuck on the image of youlast week, asleep at the window.just before you dozed off, you said            so serene in the sunlight and you ended up with this goofy tan line on your neck, from the…
  • Jessie
    dear Jessie, it was nice to read your letterlast week. i’ve been so boredaround the house since my surgery.guess you could call meagoraphobic, though it’s not me that fears leaving the houseso much as it is my body. does…
  • May
    dear May, do you believe in wishes?i can hardly wrap my headaround them. i s’pose it’s maybe d’you think i mess it up somehow?shooting stars, birthday candles,11:11 — i wish, i do what’s expected.how come nothin’s come up my…
  • Trudy
    dear Trudy i heard about the tests —you poor thing! that old sayinggets trotted out too much — “God onlygives us as much as we can handle” — more like God takes asmuch as he thinks we’ll do without,or…
  • Joy
    dear Joy, i miss the smell of your foodas it simmers in our kitchen — herbsand spices tangled in ways only youcan decipher, with some master’s codex,which you probably wrote anyway — it’s hard these days. everything is burnt.i’ll…
  • Uncle Harry
    dear Uncle Harry, could you tell me — am i going to be poppingthe same six pimplesfor the rest of my life? let me know,Jane
  • Frankie
    dear Frankie, saw the note you left with the paint chips. first off, i think arctic whisper has acharmed mystique thatsuits the bathroom. and i do know what you meanwhen you said all we do is run ourselves throughwoodchippers…
  • Jeremiah
    dear Jeremiah, you’re probably too busy flickingboogers to bother, butwhile i’m away, could youfeed my exotic turtles? food’sin the fridge, like last time.Exxon gets a small dish (labeled)and Holly likes greens. try not toeat their food in a salad…
  • Tabby
    dear Tabby, sunk the car today (sorry) andi know you’ll be mad (about the carwhich is ditch-lodged, deep)and i know we’ll talk abouthow to cover insurance hikesbut you’ve got to hear me out.remember that nature show wewatched on our…
  • Gut
    dear Gut, it’s a shame we haven’ttalked in so long. at leastnot like we used to. i knowyou’ve been off workand i’ve been unreachableand it’s like we live perhapsa planet or two apart.still, it’s hard to live like this.maybe…
  • Greta Lee
    dear Greta Lee, terrible news today. seems they’verevived that old show you used to love.remember how you said — ohwhat were the words again — that sure tied up like a country ham!or look no further, folks,(spoken to an…
  • Florence
    dear Florence, are you holding up okaysince the procedure?everyone asks about youat the pool. dina in particulardrained her savings to buy“got well soon” truffles foryou even though we don’tsee you anymore. we miss yourancient neon one piecesand your witticisms…
  • Jonesy
    dear Jonesy, when you left the tv on(all day) the other dayi didn’t even think — not once! not for a second — about those clementines.you addressed the ceiling,desperate, “someone, anyone but me, eat these before they go.” and…
  • Sissy Lou
    dear Sissy Lou, i was driving the usual wayyesterday to bring back your parrotbut the dogs got scared whena helicopter passed over and,what with the barking and all, itapped the brakes andpissed off the guy behind me,who honked and…
  • Halt
    dear Halt, look y’know maybe i look likea real piece of shit a realstubbed toe or toothpickto the gums (it happens)i happen to be a littlebroken up at the momentso i won’t make it to thecat’s funeral but when…

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