The Rise of the Internet Letter

So today I turned my hand to letter writing.

One of my friends is at a Camp in America, and as she emailed around her address, I thought I would take the bait and write to her.

And it turns out, letter writing is really hard. I am a little bit of a techno-phobe: I hate writing emails (they sound so impersonal, and there’s no way to convey sarcasm. Just brilliant), I am notoriously bad at replying to texts or phone calls (honestly, the last time I picked up my phone when it rang I was greeted by shocked silence and then cheering. That I’d picked up), and don’t get me started on Facebook.

But although I dislike it, that’s how people communicate now. But I’ve always felt that misguided sense that somehow, actually writing a letter would be easier.  Yet sitting down with a pen, some paper, and a goal was…difficult. Don’t get me wrong, I love writing (had you not spotted the poetry?). It’s my dream and my goal to be a writer one day. But a simple letter really stumped me.

So, this summer, I am going to send out letters to all of my friends, instead of facebook messages or long, apology ridden texts. I’m going to send them something special, with photos (if our printer is fixed), thought, and hand written sentiments. It’ll (hopefully) have the added benefit of helping me improve my letter writing skills as well.

And if they still don’t forgive me for accidentally ignoring their facebook message, I can’t be blamed.

PS. The friend’s letter that started this train of thought off? Eventually answered by being written in haikus. Oh Yeah.

Poetry in Progress

I’m not sure how many people read the “About” section of this blog (lie: I check the Site Stats page more regularly than is healthy), but I’m fairly certain that I mention in that my love of poetry. This is actually quite a recent thing; I wrote my first poems around a year ago but decided they were rubbish and left it for short story writing. But in March this year I wanted to start writing more again (I fell out of practice with school work and the internet), and I didn’t have time for short stories (although I did start a screenplay and a script-explain the logic of that decision to me please?). So, I started writing poems. And as of today I’ve written 25-of which about three are acceptable for eyes not genetically linked to mine.

Anyway, to cut what could otherwise be a very, very long post short, here is one of my poems. It’s a more recent one, and I know it’s not perfect, but it was one of my first attempts at getting a structured rhyme scheme (it’s so tempting to write poems stream of conciousness, even when you know it doesn’t fit right). And you know what, I am quite proud of it.

It’s also appropriate for the setting (you’ll see).

Living on the Internet

Living in a technical generation

No time for talking, or a toast and tea,

Only for digital stimulation

Which won’t fulfil you nor please me.

 

The clinical coldness of LCD,

The scraped bare virtual inbox.

Not a bone left, emotionally clean

And no warmth in pixel crosses.

 

Beeping beeping everywhere, but no voice.

Buttons to accept everywhere, but no choice.

Pay be cash, by credit, by card-

Never mind that you’ve already paid with your heart.