Sometimes my dad sends me letters

Articles attached and underlined

Stories he clips from the New York Times

His comments decorate the margins

He picks the articles he thinks I would like

Or maybe those I need to read

My dad knows my spirit

He knows how I think and how I process

Today he sent an article on editing

“For our young editor,” he wrote across the top

It was an article about falling in love

More than editing

Dad knows that writing is hard

Yet, it is this medium he chooses to show he cares

His block text scrawled across the page

Writing on top of writing

To a budding writer

My grandpa underlined the newspaper

Dad is his father’s son

I am my father’s daughter

He sends hard copies

So I can feel the paper, so I can smell the ink

The physicality pulls me away from the screen

I read, I invest, I notice

And then I write

I write for Dad