Over the past few years, I’ve carried on correspondence with several poet friends. Mostly in email, but also in the form of handwritten letters. I find that putting pen to paper is much more satisfying than sending off an email.
Why? Writing a letter slows me down. I gather my thoughts and I consider how the words look on the page. I’m free to sketch, doodle, illustrate. All are bits of non-linear scribbles that enhance or augment my written words.
Here’s where I add my “I don’t have an MFA” disclaimer. There’s an enormous amount of scholarly material around letters and poetry for you to explore. For example, there’s a poetic form called an “epistle” for poems that read as a letter. “To a Magazine” by Mary Ruefle and “Letter from Town: The Almond Tree” by D.H. Lawrence are two good examples.
Collections of letters by poets provide insightful and interesting reading. There are wonderful exchanges between well-known poets. For example, Langston Hughes and Bessie Head, or Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett Browning. Letters written between poet mentor and student are also good (and encouraging) reading. For example, “Letters to a Young Poet” by Rainer Maria Rilke.
Writing a letter is among the most personal activities any of us – poet or non-poet – ever does. One of my more memorable poetry-writing experiences started with the prompt: “write a letter to a family member about something that frustrates you.” My letter turned into a “rant poem” fueled by my long-internalized anger about expectations for a Southern woman. What started as a letter, and then continued as a rant, concluded with a surprisingly gentle tribute to my elderly aunts.
I hope you enjoy your letter-writing adventures. Save your exchanges with other poets and writer friends. Look back over your landscape of letters whenever you need a creative boost and a reminder that you’re not on this writing journey all by yourself.
References
Poet’s Letters (poets.org) https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/collection/poets-letters
“Poets and Their Letters” Review by Bruce Bawer https://hudsonreview.com/2013/03/poets-and-their-letters-2/#.Ws-S7uSWziC
Poets.org discussion of “epistle” - https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/text/epistle-poetic-form