NaPoWriMo: Day 27

Prompt: a poetic review of something that isn’t normally reviewed.


The United States Postal System

We have come a long way
since the pony express
that commitment of young riders
who were first to shrink the world

With technological advancements
from telegrams to telephones
one is forced to question
why the written word still holds weight

Handwriting has quickly fallen from grace
ancestral cursive now reads like code
we type faster than we can speak
sometimes even faster than we think

Postage sales cannot cover the costs
to continue the status quo
and the majority of mail that is delivered
can only hope to meet a recycling bin

Yet still, there is a comfort
in the steadiness of the post
and the predictable stillness
on days to be remembered

There is hope in each delivery
every trek to the door or mailbox
anticipation spikes in those seconds
to see what may have arrived

There is love in each card sent
every letter penned in silence
one of the last of physical labors
through which we pledge our heart

There is faith in the connectivity of humans
who live thousands of miles apart
expressed affectionately with investment
in stamps to last Forever

I give the United States Postal Service
Four and a Half Stars