The joy of writing letters. 📨

( For the vintage admirers) 

I never actually thought how fascinating letter writing and handwritten cards would be until I read the cute love story of Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes, that both of them were poets and they expressed their love for each other through writing poems on their letters. Sadly, their marriage ended up in tragedy but the 'poetry on the letter' part has always amazed me.  Intensely pure. 

 The excitement and nervousness of pouring out your heart with words gives a sense of content. Picking up the right texture of the paper and  twirling the pen between your fingers and pondering for an hour before writing the first line, and once you start to pour in, it goes on and on. Your mind gets flooded with thousand tales that you have been through and you keep writing everything. You smile with a certain nostalgia. You think of a joke and laugh in the middle of some paragraph. You ask and poke the other person with an innocence and naughtiness. You adorn the paper with doodle art on the corner and fixing dry flowers with a tape.  And in no time, half of your journey is right in front of your eyes, straight up from your mind to the matter. You read it one last time , and with a big sigh, you finally put the letter in an envelope and seal it or tie it with a ribbon. Then the waiting, a period of thrill. The anticipation of waiting is a weird feeling, happiness mixed with anxiety. 

Now the other person who recieves it feels one of the greatest joy of his/her life. Opening the envelope delicately with excitement. The feeling of holding the same paper once held by your loved one is otherwordly. The carefully chosen words that were written with joy, laughter, a pint of sorrow, and adding a post script note too brings a life into it. 

21st century came along with some of the brilliant ideas of communication such as messaging services, emails, several social media and who knows whats next! Less than a minute I can reach to my friend via phone calls or messages. Just Facebook each other, everyone around you can find you within no time. Any person with a rational mind would rather prefer these facilities. But iam still in romance with the letters.  Handwritten letters. Most humane, articulate and intense. And in this materialistic world, i think one of the best gifts which has no price tag or expiration date could be letters and handmade cards. So, let's express our gratitude and emotions with creativity and an extraordinary warmth of love. Let it grow, fathomless. 

Note: Since my school days, I am a huge admirer of Sylvia Plath( My favorite is her book: The unabridged journals of Sylvia Plath).  She never wrote about butterflies and sunshine but embraced her darkness. Her poetry is mysterious, dark, daunting and intriguing. In fact she is one of the reasons I somehow developed a keen interest towards poetry.  Then after reading her biography I came across her passion for teaching and writing poetry , her love story with Ted Hughes (The laburnum Top, the one i read when i was in my eleventh class, a beautiful poem, one of my inspiration), and her disturbing relationship with family and community.  What captivated me was the way Ted and Sylvia fell in love. LETTERS. The magic of letters. And thus, two beautiful poets were united❤. 

"My flesh is colder than wet sod.  Do you know that you have the most delicious quirked lovely mouth and your eyes crink up and you are all warm and smooth and elegantly muscled and long-striding and my god I go mad when I let myself think of you."

~Sylvia Plath 

                                  (in her letters) 

(Ted and Sylvia)