Hello everyone!

Before the onset of the digital age, not so long ago, letter writing was the only way to communicate long distance. Thus, learning how to properly write a letter was a part of any young woman or man’s education. Letters in those days were extremely important and  were sent for the same reasons that we send emails, and texts today—to share news with friends and family, to share information, to conduct business and for queries, in short, for communication.

Phones did affect letter writing but long distance phone calls were expensive and stamps were cheap, so handwritten letters continued to be exchanged. But with the advent of emails and cellphones, letters became almost redundant. Though it must be admitted that even those times not everyone wrote letters.

The Letter by Amy Lowell

Little cramped words scrawling all over the paper

Like draggled fly’s legs,

What can you tell of the flaring moon

Through the oak leaves?

The modern millennials might say that emails are the new letters—that letters are an old-fashioned and outdated form of communication—but there’s something about letters that is intimate, personal and perhaps creative too!

In the digital age, it is quite easy to forget the joy of writing letters. As we all know handwriting and handwritten letters go (ah!well) hand-in-hand; the decline of one usually leads to the atrophy of the other. One of the reasons why we write less often is quite obvious: we have email and texts, there’s less emphasis on handwriting in schools, and in the rushed lives that we are leading these days, we’re simply not used to the slowness of handwritten mail. But the truth is that old fashioned snail mail is fun and a wonderful way to stay in touch. At the same time, it can convey the anguish of loneliness that emails cannot.

441 by Emily Dickinson

This is my letter to the world

That never wrote to me

The simple news that nature told

With tender majesty

Her message is committed

To hands I cannot see

For love of her sweet countrymen

Judge tenderly – of me.

In the present age, it is so easy to keep up with people. Mobile phones have us connected like never before, we stay in touch with friends and acquaintances on Facebook and Instagram, email distant relatives, text grandparents, and follow politicians and celebrities on X. But in all these new age messaging, we lose something important, and that is the personal touch! 

Sitting with a blank paper and pen, with none of the distractions of “suggested text”, “auto correct” or “spell check” can often lead to a disorderly, free flowing write ( compared to the linearity of text on screen), with words crossed out, rewriting, asterisks, PS and more PSs. Also letters can be perfumed, enclose pressed flowers and kisses too and that makes them so intimate and tangible!

Do share with me how long has it really been since you saw a hand-addressed envelope in your mailbox? How long has it been since correspondence with a friend DIDNOT rely on little notification dots or ticks , but instead, on the words and paper they chose, the familiarity of how they looped their ‘r’s , their slanted capitals and the stamp they peeled and placed just for you?

When was the last time you picked up a pen and composed a letter to a friend or a family member? Letter writing delivers something more to the recipient than just the words on the page. The act itself shows how much we care about a person and believe me, letter writing makes us happier. It’s the intimacy, the information we impart by way of our handwriting, our choice of pen and paper, that connects us with the recipient in a way that cold computer screens can’t!

The challenge

I think, we all have many, maybe hundreds, of unsent and unwritten letters inside us. So let’s write letters today. Write to your beloved, your best friend, your future self, your unborn child/grandchild, your parents, your ex, the vile politician, the celebrity you fancy, the editor of the local daily, long-lost pen-pal…to anyone  (in the form of a poem, of course!). Your poem can also be about the process of letter writing. Let’s rekindle and revive the dying art of letter writing this Tuesday!

I am sharing a few links that you may enjoy.

40 love letters by jeanann verlee

https://discoverpoetry.com/poems/poems-about-writing/

And if you are interested, you can read about epistolary poems here.

If you are new to dVerse, please write a poem adhering to the prompt on your blog.

Leave a link of your post (not your blog) at Mr. Linky.

Link back to this post.

Do try to find time to read the poems of fellow poets. We all are here for the love of poetry.