Postcard Poetry

My friend and fellow poet Joseph Legaspi (I’m linking to his first book, Imago, which comes out really, really soon!) has a project going with his circle of writers called Postcard Poetry. The idea is very simple: he sends a poem no bigger than the back side of a postcard to someone in his writers’ group.

He and I are starting to write postcards to each other. Here is his first card to me:

The poem reads (with no clue on the line breaks):

Begin with a peach, aflame,
suspended in the haloed air.
Then collisions, a series: high
speed train and cow grazing on
the grassy tracks. Ex-lovers in the
coatroom at an acquaintance's
party. A judge's gavel quieting
an unruly courtroom. And outside
in the blinding sun of a humid afternoon
how a green dress flutters from a flagpole
like these disparate images.

I wrote my first postcard poem and will be mailing it today. I’ll post what I sent this weekend—seems fitting that Joseph should be the first person to read it.

I’ve loved this idea ever since Joseph sent me Ted Kooser’s book, Winter Morning Walks: 100 Postcards to Jim Harrison. So I’m suggesting this to you. If you’re interested in participating in a Poetry Postcard Exchange, contact me at jgill27494@aol.com. We’ll exchange mailing addresses and I’ll send you a brand-spanking-new poem on a postcard. The poem(s) you send me should be written by you just for me! (*smile*). Please let me know if I can post the card and the poem on my blog. Let’s keep it up for the month of August. Think of it as part writing exercise, part fun!

I loved receiving Joseph’s little gem in the mail. Looking forward to reading your postcard poems, too!