POETRY
Stamps
Paper Poetry Prompt#2
Stamps: A Series of Tanka Poems
Stamps travel the world
hitchhiking on my letters
carried over the seas
on envelopes sealed with care
to places I’ve never seen
Handwritten letters
Folded neatly, tucked inside
Sealed with care and stamped
Sent to far away nations
to people around the world
Stamps enabled me
to learn, to grow, and to meet
beautiful people
from many different cultures
and distant places
When I was a teenager I had pen pals from over 60 different countries. One of the items we enjoyed exchanging amongst one another were “used” postage stamps. This was the first time in my life I began to pay attention to the beauty of stamps.
Occasionally there were stamps designed with an image of a nation’s leader. Those stamps inspired me to learn more about the governing bodies of the countries of my pen pals. From there, I was inspired to learn more about their system of government.
There were stamps with portraits of individuals considered heroes in specific nations. There were also pictorials inspired by a major event in a country’s history. Those stamps encouraged me to learn more about each country’s history.
The scenic stamps inspired me to learn more about the topography and geography of the countries of my pen pals. The nature stamps encouraged me to learn about the flora and fauna and natural landscapes of each country.
In my teenage years, postage stamps were more to me than a means to support delivery of my letters. They served as both inspiration and a source of education for me. Thirty years later, I still have some of the stamps I collected.
This writing prompt encouraged me to dig up those old stamps. As I was sorting through them, detailed memories flooded my mind of my old pen pals. We lost touch when I started college years ago. I saved their names and contact information, so this prompt inspired me to try to locate them. I wonder where they are now. I wonder if some of them are on Medium!
Thank you Suntan Bhadra and Gloria D. Gonsalves for this Writing Prompt: Stamps
