The Post Office Poems - Bulletin Board

The idea for the Post Office Poems began with a simple posting of a poem on the bulletin board at the Fall City Post Office on October 6, 2009 by an anonymous poet. Everyone in town has a post office box, there is no delivery within the city as it is pretty much out in the boonies, "rural". When you pick up your mail after hours you enter the back door which is always unlocked. To the left on the wall is a large bulletin board with a typical assortment of small notices for rentals, items for sale, upcoming events and business cards. Once you read these, the next time you come in the reading selection becomes pretty boring. There is nothing else on the walls, though I've noticed lately as you come in the door the wind has blown a large handful of brilliant orange, red, yellow and brown leaves across the floor.

Thus an idea was born to enliven the lobby experience for townsfolk. Once a week a poem is posted on the board. The first was called "Four Feathers from Fall City", it was posted on a Tuesday night about 9:30 pm with three white tacks, on a sheet of white typing paper. When I had just pushed in the last tack I heard a car pull up. I looked out the door and there was a cop car just outside. Was I breaking some unknown Postal Service rule or federal bulletin board law? As I walked out the door, an officer in full uniform walked in and said, "Hello there, how are you?"

I said, "Hello, fine thank you." and nervously left. I wanted the poems to be anonymous. When people of Fall City read them, I want the poem and it's images to be exerienced and enjoyed. This project is interactive. A piece of plain white paper, a poem, the quiet lobby, and then whatever happens next in the reading, the feelings of the reader, etc. will be a discovery. Something new. A gift.

The second poem was posted this Tuesday, October 13, 2009 in the evening. No one was in the parking lot or the lobby. No police came. The first poem had been neatly folded to make a long column of a half sheet of paper (bulletin board rules) and the white tacks replaced by flat gold tacks. The poems is titled "Seven Pigeons and the White Angel".

You can read both poems here at ThePostOfficePoems.blogspot.com. There will be photographs taken locally in Fall City and along the Snoqualmie River. If you have any comments, please feell free to leave them here on the blog. Remember, this is an interactive endeavor. If you have a chance, stop by the Fall City Post Office and experience the current poem. Then let me know your thoughts. Enjoy. Have a great week.

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