Here's the Mail!

I wonder if there are any Valentines in those mail slots. I took a brief break from the Writing Center this afternoon and walked to the mailroom to take one last peek to see if anything was there for me, in my slot, before the semester begins this coming Tuesday morning. Tomorrow and Monday are holidays, so for 4 days the campus will be locked tight.

Lots of instructors haven't been in for days, some since the autumn semester ended right before Christmas, so mailboxes are full. I'm ready for my Tuesday morning class with most of my handouts photocopied. Each of my classes has a capacity of 30 students and each is full. Each class also has a waiting list of 28 or more students, so there will be some serious disappointment when they don't get added. I've bought Valentine candy and will give it to those who don't get added to sweeten a bitter moment.

In keeping with my tradition of these early days of February, I'll include another poem from the collection that I'm enjoying by Ted Kooser. It makes me think about mailboxes, mail slots, and getting envelopes with Valentines.

POCKET POEM

If this comes creased and creased again and soiled
as if I'd opened it a thousand times
to see if what I'd written here was right,
it's all because I looked too long for you
to put it in your pocket. Midnight says
the little gifts of loneliness come wrapped
by nervous fingers. What I wanted this
to say was that I want to be so close
that when you find it, it is warm from me.

by Ted Kooser from Valentine: Poems

Presidential Professor the University of Nebraska
former U.S. poet laureate
winner of the Pulitzer Prize in Poetry


Check your mailbox, you may have a Valentine.
Good night from Southern California.
Rosie (& Mr. Fun), aka Carol