Letter to Micka About Fonts

Dear Mary Virginia:  Odd how the dark marks
we use to capture the sounds of our words
keep changing.  It would seem that those who
invent such marks want to be as creative as those
who use them to write poetry.   I’m convinced

that’s a good thing.   Darwin’s discovery occurs
even in language and the odd shapes we draw
to house it.   You may not know that I told no one
who wrote a blurb for your new book that you
are a nun.  I figured the poems could stand on their

own feet.  They will be as surprised about that
as you will be pleased at what they had to say about
your work.  In their eyes, you have become a god.
I knew it would be true.  Your poems slice right
to the core of what it takes to make the journey,

They are lean, crisp as fresh celery, rich with melody,
haunting, painful yet ripe with celebration and awe.
I go among them, hands stuffed in my pockets, head
bowed.   I know when I’ve been called to prayer,
and I’ve been around too long to ignore the invitation.

Fredrick Zydek

Fredrick Zydek is the author of eight collections of poetry.  T’Kopechuck: the Buckley Poems is forthcoming from Winthrop Press later this year.  Formerly a professor of creative writing and theology at the University of Nebraska and later at the College of Saint Mary, he is now a gentleman farmer when he isn’t writing.  He is the editor for Lone Willow Press.