The Last Christmas Card Writer



By the week after Thanksgiving she had
Purchased her supply of Christmas cards
That contained a nostalgic rural winter vignette
And a sweet, secular written message.  

She didn’t want to offend anyone by
Pushing an overt religious creed.
With a hot cup of tea steaming on
The kitchen table, she carefully stacked

The cards next to the creamy white envelopes.
She had kept a hand-written list of
Recipients since her children were born.
Many addresses on the list had been scratched

Out now, reminders that time never loses.
Deaths and divorces had culled the names.
Undaunted, she carefully addressed each
Envelope in elegant penmanship that she

Had learned from Miss Kinsella when she
Was in kindergarten, back when the perfect
Formation of letters mattered.  She hunched
Over like a monk preparing a medieval manuscript,

Ensuring that each letter flowed into the next
Seamlessly. Such precision mattered to her.  
The ritual of Christmas card writing should not
Be rushed. Inside each card, she wrote a brief

Greeting that added a touch of humanity.
Her winkled hands, which had wiped
Hundreds of runny noses and folded
Thousands of clothes, began to cramp.

Her children told her not to bother with
This ritual. No one sends mail, they said.
But stopping would be an admission
Of mortality.  The cards were a signal

That she still breathed, still felt alive.
The final step was walking to the post
Office to send the cards off like they
Were her children heading to school.

She always wanted her cards to be the
First ones to arrive in a person’s mailbox.
Then she waited, with the painful knowledge
That the cards she would receive would

Likely continue to dwindle because of
Death or contemporary preoccupations.
When the first card appeared in her mailbox,
She clutched it as if it were a rare diamond.

About this poem

We may all know a mother or grandmother like the subject of this poem.

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Written on October 11, 2022

Submitted by on October 11, 2022

Modified by on October 11, 2022

1:41 min read
6

Quick analysis:

Scheme XXXA XXXX XBXX XXXC CXXX XXXX CXXX XXXX XXXX XDAX BXDX
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 1,832
Words 338
Stanzas 11
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4

William Graham

Poet, novelist, and travel writer William Graham holds a BA and MA in English and a MS in Communication from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. He lives in Stowe, Vermont. more…

All William Graham poems | William Graham Books

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