G.H. Mosson's Blog

Celebrating the U.S. Post Office

By G. H. Mosson and Marcus Colasurdo

We live in strange times, with much happening all at once, and also everything loud and quiet.  One of those happenings has been the current President’s attack on the U.S. postal service, an attack of doubt, and it appears still to date, an attack by lack of funding.

Of course, this occurs in the middle of an election.  The U.S. election for President, Congress, some U.S. Senate seats, and many state and local offices, as well as on various ballot measures, is scheduled for Nov. 3, 2020.  Of course, many will wish to vote by mail during this virus pandemic.

The U.S. Post Office dates back to the postal carriers, the pony express, founded by the famous Benjamin Franklin during the America revolution to ensure the sanctity of the mail against royal snooping.  

For more, there are so many sources, including Wikipedia and the PBS cartoon history, Liberty Kids (2004), which I watched with my children this past year.

    Marcus Colasurdo and I are authors of Heart X-rays, a modern epic poem, published by PM Press as their 16th pamphlet, and which tackles various issues in America, in technology, and in song.  Some of this we wrote by mail, exchanging drafts and ideas and waiting for the juice that comes with waiting.  

I hope we are not dating ourselves before cellphones and iPhones by stating that both of us just enjoy the mail, beyond its obvious usefulness.  Or maybe, I hope we are dating ourselves.  We should not forget the importance of a public postal service, for many reasons.

    Our forthcoming book of poems, Simultaneous Revolutions has a poem celebrating the mail and living that happens with and around it.  PM Press is bringing it out in 2021.  In these pandemic times, and in support of our postal workers and public postal service, Enjoy.

ODE TO A MAILBOX

Mini-behemoth of promised motion,
short, squat, rounded at the top,
stationary caboose car
stamped onto the sidewalk
under a tall oak tree
of my neighborhood;
mute receiver of envelopes,
bills come due, womb
of congratulations, penciled
complaints, condolence cards,
halfway house for urgent epistles
on exodus from nearby addresses,
endangered species some would say,
or just a nostalgic warrior out-
numbered by the electronic horde.

Keeper of secrets, lips zipped tight,
painted blue and white, stumpy beacon 
above the snowfall, perhaps 
the futurists are right about you, yet
the mailbox still anchors 
how I live, as much 
as any azalea bush,
speed bump or stop sign,
or children’s hopscotch.

Ah mailbox, I will continue 
to visit you regardless of the cynics 
and their haste, and arrow 
my evening stroll your way
for whatever else is said
in capitals of state
and salons of silver,
we’ve known each other
for these long seasons
and not once
have you betrayed me.

G. H. Mosson and Marcus Colasurdo are the authors of Heart X-rays (PM Press 2018) and of several books in their individual names.  Their next collaboration of lyric poems is forthcoming from PM Press in 2021, Simultaneous Revolutions.  For more, seek https://www.pmpress.org/index.php?l=product_detail&p=926.

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