This is an Unfinished Poem

The words in this poem were put together from letters I have received from someone I care about. Each line represents a letter, each word a page.

I wrote it as I normally would a reply to one of these letters. I used the usual envelope and stamp, and put the words on printer paper. (I don't like lined paper for anything, ever.)

I left the salutation blank, apart from the comma. I don't know who would receive these words from me, and I didn't feel it was appropriate to address it to myself. I'd already been given these words, and now they were mine to give to someone else.

Each word was the 24th to appear on the page it's taken from, with one exception. The last word of the poem is the last word on the page, as it didn't have a full 24 words. The number 24 is for the amount of months I'm going without any real contact with this person.

It is not signed, as I am still receiving letters from this person, and therefore it is not finished.

The return address is simply "Ephraim, UT" without any specifics or a name. Although it's from me, it is also, in a way, from the original sender. Mostly, it's from this place. The place we met, the place we got to know each other. Our town. No matter where we go, this is the place all our words for each other are originally coming from. In place of the recipient's address I put the title of the work.

I posted it on a bulletin board in the local mail room. I left it there for anyone to take, and do what they wished with it. I glanced in there a couple of days later to see if anyone had taken it. It was gone.







- Trishelle Jeffery