23 March 2022 THANK YOU to everyone who made a postcard, wrote a poem on a postcard, and sent it in to this project-- Thus far I have received work (in no particular order) from: Lauren Maust, Tina Carey, Landon Estes, Bryce Edwards, Jacy Jones, Spencer Conrad, Babeth Lolarga, Josie Byrum, P.F. Anderson, Anna Isabella Fratarcangelo, Serenity Bassett, Parker Barnett, Summer H., Robert Brasheer, Clayton, Sofia Miltier, Emma Faustini, Ed W. Lull, Molly O'Dell, William Prindles, Shari Berk, James Irving Mann, Bill Ayres, M. Carter, Deborah A. Lass, Carol Ann Moon, Ruth M. Bizot, A. Pasatt, John J. Livecchi, Kenyata Kimaru, Calvin Fitzgerald, Frank Sheridan, Willow Walton, Alexis Washington, Nicole Tong, Janet McKeehan-Medina, Zachary Winchell, Gail Giewont, Raya Moraga, Pepper Maranto, Miguel Machado, Imani Koiner, Stacy Clair, Owen Collins, Alex Belter, Kenaly Adams, William Cribbin, Kimora T., Max Bell, Fairouz Bsharat, LN Looby, Aaliyah Anderson, Sam Ellis, Spencer Salusky, Gabby Armstrong, Jillian Foster, Tyler Kathleen Franklin, Parris Krauss, Haile, Brendan Mackie, Hermine Pinson, Rita S. Quillen, C. Nicol, Jenna Villforth Veazey, Kindra McDonald, Emily Pease, Nini Teves Lapuz, Latorial Faison, Naoko Fujimoto, Charles Rhodes, Kathleen Decker, Paul E. Savas, Jorge Mendez, J. Scott Cathcart, Julia Travers, J. Scott Wilson, Derek Kannemeyer, Toni Britton, Alainie Satterfield, Andrea Paredes-Moran, Star Lewis, Catherine Fletcher, Danial Esmaeilian, Jillian Ylagan, Wendi White, Lucian Mattison, Katrin Brinkman, Jack Couchman, Renee Anderson, Adam Rowe, Taylor Veney, Hannah Rouse, Marcel Rose... (This list may still be amended, as I receive mail that may have been delayed for some reason.) It's been fun getting them in the mail, reading through your poems, and appreciating the time you took to think about and create the visual aspect for the postcard, either through original art or through manipulating an existing postcard using collage or some other similar method. As promised, here are some photos I took of the postcard batches received. I am in the process of selecting 30 postcards that I think most effectively address the themes for this little project as well as present an interesting visual that contributes to the subject and language of your poems. These 30 will be posted in the blog section of this website, one a day for each day of April NaPoMo (National Poetry Month 2022). Stay tuned! |
{"On Rain" contributed by Gabriela A. Igloria]
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FIRST LINES (from San Mateo County Poet Laureate Aileen Cassinetto)
I am from balikbayan boxes/ I’m drowning in clutter/ Child’s chair: sole survivor/ My parents were born to farmers/ my daughter in the saddle/ From deep within the rows of August corn/ quiero caer del cielo/ Behind beachsand bricks/ Second-generation immigrant/ Last time I checked/ I was born an eldest son. Lines by: Aileen Cassinetto, Amy L. Pabalan, Veronica Kornberg, Carol S. Park, Caroline Goodwin, Diane Lee Moomey, Hilary Cruz Mejia, Jacki Rigoni, Jasmeen Karan, Purvi Kunwar, Lisa Rosenberg |
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Dear Reader,
How are you?
No— how, really, are you?
What of joy or grief have you carried? What of loss and healing and hope?
How much of the world around you seems to have changed? how much seems the same?
Do you, like me, still feel stunned by both the dailiness and the sheer unpredictability of each day? Anxiety is like those winds that whip brush fires high in the west, making a mouth that swallows everything to leave a wilderness in its wake. It's the long, unspooling hours when it's difficult to sleep. I imagine it could sound like the last time I heard the voice of a friend who succumbed early on to this virus; or like glaciers calving; or like an undersea explosion unloosing tsunamis just before dinnertime— not even the tinkle of dishes would have been enough warning.
As we move into a third year of pandemic, I've also found myself wanting to listen more closely to the things my body is telling me: sometimes all I want to do is retreat into quiet, and not have to be for others. Other times, I crave the sound of human voices in conversation; a hug, a touch. In between, I search for words that can both ground and lift: in books, in poems, in writing—a way to look at whatever this place is holding, this here and now,
That's why getting real mail in the post is always a pleasure: a letter or postcard that someone took time to write in ink; with doodles on the margins, or a P.S. crammed into a corner of the page. My friend Babeth Lolarga is one of the most faithful letter- and postcard-writers I know. Somehow she turns a standard 4" x 6" card into a moment of stopped time, in which it has either been raining for days on end but her faithful courier delivery service has managed to bring an order of new books to read; or she imagines a visit so she can meet her new grandchild on the west coast, and plan a side trip to Virginia... A small pleasure, almost nothing perhaps. But also proof of life, of wanting to go on.
Dear Reader,
This is also a call for submissions.
I would love to hear from you, in the form of a poetry postcard.
Especially if you are from anywhere in Virginia (but not only).
These are the requirements:
- Write a short, original poem that shows some part of your "here" — What's it like in your immediate natural environment/community/the place where you live? What about it (specifically) brings you joy? What are some of your most pressing concerns about this place?
- A subject that's important to me is climate change, and the related issue of climate justice; can you tell me how this could affect where you and your community live or make their home?
- What do you fear, what do you hope, what do you think you can do? How do you want to imagine this place in the future?
Write the poem on a postcard and mail it to me on or before FRIDAY, 11 March 2022 (take a picture of both sides for your records).
- Make your own postcard, or take any printed postcard and alter it or turn it into a collage.
- Address it to Luisa A. Igloria, c/o The English Department, Old Dominion University; Hampton Boulevard, Norfolk, VA 23529
- On your postcard, include your return (mailing) address and also an email address at which you can be reached.
For April/National Poetry Month, I will select 30 of the most striking poetry postcards received, and feature one a day on this website. (The rest of the postcards will be put together as a collage, which I will also put up on this website every 2-3 weeks during the period of collection.)
With love and hope,
Luisa