Return to Sender

over there’s a rusted pipe
a candy cane in an open field

is it a searching periscope eye
or gaping mouth accusing?

barn swallows weave the sky
questions unfolding

you say stay still
we don’t need to answer

I wish I was the static
invisible between your stations

This is the end of this series that I started posting in 2019. The series originated in 2018 as sample poems I wrote with my students at school. I didn’t like any of them so in early 2019, I cut them up by line, by stanza, by phrase and collaged them back together into 10 poems most of which have titles related in some way or other to the history of the US Postal service.

Of course, I stopped writing for almost 2 years when I hit a snag on “Facer Canceller.” Couldn’t figure it out and couldn’t get on with much else writing-wise. Suddenly it was 2 years later. I finished the poem and picked up where I left off.

I’m still not quite sure how it happened. How it went so fast and took so long.

James Brush

James Brush is a teacher and writer who lives in Austin, TX. He tries to get outside as much as possible.

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