March 2024 Poetry Challenge B: Epistles - letters in poetry

[Lyricalli]

Write a letter to someone as poetry, and there's really not much more to it than that. Sometimes, I think at least half of the things I've written are an epistle in some form or another.

Here's a link to the Poetry Foundation page on epistles, which includes links to examples:

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/learn/glossary-terms/epistle


And a couple that I've written, because it might feel more approachable to click on something from someone here:

To my parents' other child

Epistle for a Water Sign


Comments and responses can be posted in this thread or the 2024 Poetry Challenge Discussion Thread, whichever you prefer.

 

[XShadynzX]

F

I remember
those honeyed words you wrote
Those pictures you sent
Especially the one of you in the white shirt

"Just to seduce you my dear" you said
and it did
lead me down a path I had no intention of going
Lead me down the path of lust and desire
For someone I could never have

I held you at bay for a long time
Trying not to fall
It seems you will always be a part of me
(remember the joke about the tattoo?)

Now, in calmer moments
I realise all we ever had were words
and even they were lies

I hope you are happy now
with the one you were meant to find
The one that's right for you.

S

 

[29wordsforsnow]

Dear younger self,

I'm sending you boldness
maybe...surely, the one thing
you'd lacked and looked for
I now have
in abundance and more
in all the wrong moments

I wish we could meet
and look the other way
in the right moment
when you met that cynic
originally
inside of yourself

I'd loved to steal
a fair share
of the constant smile
dancing on your lips
I must have lost
along the way.

~~~

Dear future self,

I hope
we meet.

 

[AlinaX]

Dear S, sweet mistress
Let me be quite blunt
I love you with my heart and soul
I love you with my cunt

I miss your hand upon my cheek
Its echo lingers still
I miss the cat, I miss the crop
Delivered with such skill

In dark of night, in pale of dawn
Alone in bed I lie
Without you by my side to kiss
My lips can only sigh

Dear S, sweet mistress
Your absence cuts me deep
When other arms embrace you so
How am I to sleep?

 

[Angeline]

For L--

I struggle
to remember you as more
than a fading photograph,
big sister, eternally twenty-one.
You taught me to drive
during your last summer.
I do remember that,
and two little girls

holding hands, singing
You are my sunshine
comes back to me as if
from a great distance
on another, long-ago
summer's day.

 

[XShadynzX]

For L--

I struggle
to remember you as more
than a fading photograph,
big sister, eternally twenty-one,
who taught me to drive
during your last summer.
I do remember that,
and two little girls

holding hands, singing
You are my sunshine
comes back to me as if
from a great distance
on another, long-ago
summer's day.

 

[Hotcoffee123]

Remembering



Remembering the day we met

You held out your hand

My mind went blank

Automatic pilot mode

I said “Hi”

My body a shiver

At lunch I told my Mom I was going to marry you.

After lunch, I followed you around like a puppy

Talk to me!….What excuse should I use?

Buttons came undone, and pencils were dropped

A well scripted leg cross and biting my eraser

You didn’t notice

I’m not ashamed to play damsel in distress

“Will you escort me to my car?”

I tried to kiss your cheek to say “Thank you” , but you moved and I caught your lips

35 years later..I think you would still turn for the kiss

 

[goldytheGoldfish]

Dear S,

This is really quite absurd.
Last year you didn't bring me anything at all.
I wasn't into it anyway, but the thought would have gone a long way.
I've decided to pass on playing this game
and I think you should tell everyone
if there's something you need to attend to.
Be proud of what you do.
I probably don't need it anyway
and definitely don't have room.

Goldy

 

[Ashesh9]

Hey Boss
U didn't Fire me
As much as unHire me....
So I slept on the job
But Boss: office cash I did na' rob
I always arrive late
That is my Kismat ..er...fate
Plz rethink your downsized plan
I remain your most loyal fan
----ash9

 

[Tzara]

Letter to Cynthia

Think you, if Laura had been Petrach's wife,
He would have written sonnets all his life?
—Lord Byron

Perhaps it's better that we didn't wed,
for I still write you poems and I dream
of your lithe body under mine, between
your opened legs, as we disturb your bed.
But that was long ago. I can't pretend
it's more than wistful thoughts, a bit extreme
at times, in other moments more serene.
In any case a fantasy, a shred
of half-remembered nights, of afternoons
when I skipped calculus and wrote you notes
with fingertips along your thighs in runes
or script, or kissed you as I pulled you close.
But this is just a letter, quite absurd,
that now I will destroy, by you unheard.

 

[42Below]

Hello,

to the voices in my head,
it’s been a long time since
I saw you. You have been
silent as the night is silent.

To the voices outside of
my head, you have been
as noisy as the daylight
standing outside in the sun,

to, the voices hearing my
three voices, you are not
all crazy, I am in your head
I just wanted to say Hello,

Hello

 

[Wonderer67]

I am sorry

Even the day I got off the plane
I was lost and angry
I blamed you for your indiscretions

Yet it was I who left you and two children
While I did "what I had to do"
And you did what you had to do too
Looking back, there is no shame in that

I was not present
In what I refer to as "my lost year and a half"

I know I was supposed to let go
I tried and tried
To forgive you and myself
But I gave into my own anger
I couldn't process what was happening to me

Choking on bitter hatred in those bad years
While I walked around our house awake at night
Present but not present
Drinking myself to sleep in the garage

You were and are so much more than
Just the mother of our children

For all of the anger
The things that I said
I forgive you

And I hope that one day you will find a way
To forgive me too

I am sorry, T

 

[42Below]

A letter to the wind
for all the good it
will do me.

I wish you
could hear me
hearing you

I would listen
to the beating
of your heart

I would hear
you calling
if you let me

I would not try
to catch you
or keep you

I would walk
awhile just
being you

even when you
were howling
I would be there

never with me
seeing you
every where

with you

 

[42Below]

Dear exclamation mark;
I am not your semicolon:
or your noun doing verb!
As underlined in above
you are a fecund fucking
gerund.

 

[JaySecrets]

So here goes. Not sure about this one, but it does feel right. It's just a weird place for me to write from.



So, there's this broken place inside of me. Invisible
to naked vision,
but you... How did you see?
How dare you touch those parts denied caress
for far too long? How could you hold
those shards that simply
wanted
not
to
feel.
How dare you heal,
insinuate soothing on scars content to bleed!
How could you know that I need
more than just a place to hide. That less than alive
was never living.
And less than living is far more fatal
than nightshade sips. Cocooned safety
slips poisoned by sympathy's strychnine.
That safe space was mine... And I...
I WANTED to die!
When the truth hurts,
sometimes a lie is enough
to carry along,
at least til final breaths bring release.
And you had to enter and point out exit signs
flashing, This Way To Peace.
And with gentle command you made me listen
until all I could hear was your whispers,
promises I hoped...
I hoped for the first time since broken.
And what woke in me
was more.
And I screamed
because feeling is war
when shards start to feel again.
And I raged
because I hated you for not running away
and leaving this mess behind.
And I wept
because I loved you for staying after all
and...
How could you?
The pain was never yours to bear
but you stood there unflinching under its blow.
How could you know
there's this broken place inside of me.
And I wanted to be
invisible.
But you saw past the flaws
and in your eyes
my own found life again.

And maybe that's what's meant
by Friend.

 

[JaySecrets]

The end to that one feels weak. If anyone has ideas of how it might be less so, I'm open to hearing them.

 

[JaySecrets]

So, there's this broken place inside of me. Invisible
to naked vision,
but you... How did you see?
How dare you touch those parts denied caress
for far too long? How could you hold
those shards that simply
wanted
not
to
feel.
How dare you heal,
insinuate soothing on scars content to bleed!
How could you know that I need
more than just a place to hide. That less than alive
was never living.
And less than living is far more fatal
than nightshade sips. Cocooned safety
slips poisoned by sympathy's strychnine.
That safe space was mine... And I...
I WANTED to die!
When the truth hurts,
sometimes a lie is enough
to carry along,
at least til final breaths bring release.
And you had to enter and point out exit signs
flashing, This Way To Peace.
And with gentle command you made me listen
until all I could hear was your whispers,
promises I hoped...
I hoped for the first time since broken.
And what woke in me
was more.
And I screamed
because feeling is war
when shards start to feel again.
And I raged
because I hated you for not running away
and leaving this mess behind.
And I wept
because I loved you for staying after all
and...
How could you?
The pain was never yours to bear
but you stood there unflinching under its blow.
How could you know
there's this broken place inside of me.
And I wanted to be
invisible.
But you saw past the flaws
and in your eyes
my own found life again.

Because maybe, past the broken,
something better begins.


I think this ending may be stronger. Sorry you guys are seeing my draft work.

 

[JaySecrets]

Dear exclamation mark;
I am not your semicolon:
or your noun doing verb!
As underlined in above
you are a fecund fucking
gerund.

fecund brilliant

 

[JaySecrets]

A letter to the wind
for all the good it
will do me.

I wish you
could hear me
hearing you

I would listen
to the beating
of your heart

I would hear
you calling
if you let me

I would not try
to catch you
or keep you

I would walk
awhile just
being you

even when you
were howling
I would be there

never with me
seeing you
every where

with you

Absolutely flawless. Clean simple lines, beautiful imagery, and a depth to the subtext that is breathtaking.

 

[JaySecrets]

I am sorry

Even the day I got off the plane
I was lost and angry
I blamed you for your indiscretions

Yet it was I who left you and two children
While I did "what I had to do"
And you did what you had to do too
Looking back, there is no shame in that

I was not present
In what I refer to as "my lost year and a half"

I know I was supposed to let go
I tried and tried
To forgive you and myself
But I gave into my own anger
I couldn't process what was happening to me

Choking on bitter hatred in those bad years
While I walked around our house awake at night
Present but not present
Drinking myself to sleep in the garage

You were and are so much more than
Just the mother of our children

For all of the anger
The things that I said
I forgive you

And I hope that one day you will find a way
To forgive me too

I am sorry, T

Brah, I hope you either have or are able to send this to her. This is powerful.

 

[JaySecrets]

Hello,

to the voices in my head,
it’s been a long time since
I saw you. You have been
silent as the night is silent.

To the voices outside of
my head, you have been
as noisy as the daylight
standing outside in the sun,

to, the voices hearing my
three voices, you are not
all crazy, I am in your head
I just wanted to say Hello,

Hello

A beautiful homage to the kind of crazy we all live with but rarely want to admit. Well and cleverly written.

 

[JaySecrets]

Hey Boss
U didn't Fire me
As much as unHire me....
So I slept on the job
But Boss: office cash I did na' rob
I always arrive late
That is my Kismat ..er...fate
Plz rethink your downsized plan
I remain your most loyal fan
----ash9

I may need to borrow this one soon?

 

[JaySecrets]

Remembering



Remembering the day we met

You held out your hand

My mind went blank

Automatic pilot mode

I said “Hi”

My body a shiver

At lunch I told my Mom I was going to marry you.

After lunch, I followed you around like a puppy

Talk to me!….What excuse should I use?

Buttons came undone, and pencils were dropped

A well scripted leg cross and biting my eraser

You didn’t notice

I’m not ashamed to play damsel in distress

“Will you escort me to my car?”

I tried to kiss your cheek to say “Thank you” , but you moved and I caught your lips

35 years later..I think you would still turn for the kiss

I love this one. Simplicity and storytelling shown not told. One minor suggestion, and it may be just a peeve thing for me. If you reworked the "followed you around like a lost puppy", a rather overused line, and instead reworked it into something that sounds less familiar? For example, "a pregnant pause" could be made fresher by "a pause awaiting its pregnancy". But I may be nit picking. I really do find this one beautiful for the story it tells.

 

[JaySecrets]

For L--

I struggle
to remember you as more
than a fading photograph,
big sister, eternally twenty-one.
You taught me to drive
during your last summer.
I do remember that,
and two little girls

holding hands, singing
You are my sunshine
comes back to me as if
from a great distance
on another, long-ago
summer's day.

Beautiful.

 

[JaySecrets]

Dear younger self,

I'm sending you boldness
maybe...surely, the one thing
you'd lacked and looked for
I now have
in abundance and more
in all the wrong moments

I wish we could meet
and look the other way
in the right moment
when you met that cynic
originally
inside of yourself

I'd loved to steal
a fair share
of the constant smile
dancing on your lips
I must have lost
along the way.

~~~

Dear future self,

I hope
we meet.

I'll be honest. I didn't want to like this one. The whole letter to younger self thing has been so overdone from songs to workshops, I was like, "here's another one". But this... This is different. You took it to an unexpected place, and told a story in it that hits home in a personal way, I'm sure for far more than just .. Excellent work. The writing is amazing