Episode 54: Letter - Natasha Trethewey

In the first episode of 2019, Connor and Jack discuss Natasha Trethewey’s “Letter.” Jack calls Connor out for his poetical preferences, Connor waxes abstractly about associative logic, both explore how things as small as a letter can reveal our most profound grief. A Dybek umbrella descends.

Read the poem below. More on Natasha Trethewey, here.

Letter By: Natasha Tretheway

At the post office, I dash a note to a friend, tell her I’ve just moved in, gotten settled, that

I’m now rushing off on an errand—except that I write errant, a slip between letters,

each with an upright backbone anchoring it to the page. One has with it the fullness

of possibility, a shape almost like the O my friend’s mouth will make when she sees

my letter in her box; the other, a mark that crosses like the flat line of your death, the symbol

over the church house door, the ashes on your forehead some Wednesday I barely remember.

What was I saying? I had to cross the word out, start again, explain what I know best

because of the way you left me: how suddenly a simple errand, a letter—everything—can go wrong.