The elegant sweep. A shaky scrawl. Postmark squiggles and fancy stamps.

Getting real mail from a real person is such a treat.

“Send mail to someone you like, miss, admire, appreciate, etc,” says Rob Walker, author of The Art of Noticing. “I am here to tell you that getting fun physical mail is a source of outright joy.”

Yes, yes, yes. I’m nodding in excessive agreement.

I love a long missive spanning pages. Or a spare message squeezed into a tight space.

I’m deep into a postcard exchange. Poetry Postcard Fest is an annual effort that involves sending a postcard every day for one month. It’s a great writing exercise, but evenmore, it’s a delight to send & receive old-fashioned, human-made correspondence.

Consider the humble postcard. It does not lecture or linger, does not stay too long or ask too much. Its beauty is brevity.

This is the promise of a postcard: To see and share, to notice a moment, a thought, idea, a want and wish. To reach out while reaching in. To write by hand, by heart.

Thinking of you.

Wish you were here.

Missing you.

Each day I walk to my mailbox and open joy.

Want to change the world, or just brighten it a bit? Do one small thing that makes a difference: send mail.

The world turns on words. Thank you for reading & writing.

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