THE TANG OF GLUE

by Dr. Mary K. Lindberg

Now that you’re gone
I live for the post,
when your life spreads over my hand
in folded lines of air mail.

But the memory begins to gather dust
like furniture in a deserted hotel.
Words of your last letter
are inaudible.

At the mailbox in the desert
metropolis of Los Angeles
I still relish the tang of glue.

But the slot creaks
like the gate of a ghost town;
the box’s arm is hard,
it sticks to my hand, and after it closes,
only dust clouds rise and settle.

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