USPS Day 1 - Palmyra Harbor

     Today was interesting.  It marked my first day at the United States Postal Service.  I showed up at the Cinnaminson Post Office at 7:50AM thinking I wanted to be nice and early.  I met up with the Postmaster who was fixing an automated machine with a technician.  He seemed surprised to see me and said "9:00AM", introduced me to my trainer, Harry, who has twenty years of experience under his belt, and Postmaster told me I could wait in the break-room until then.

     I waited.

     I was requested to follow Mail Carrier Harry onto our route.  He pushed his massive basket filled with mail and parcels to a waiting truck, which swallowed both paper and man alike.  In other words, he loaded the back while I climbed into a waiting chair that appeared hastily bolted into the frame of the storage cell of the postal vehicle.

     Mail Carrier Harry is exactly what you'd imagine if I said "Heavy Metal Bass Player."   He's a 42-year old father of two teenage daughters and is happily married.  He stands at about 5'11" and sports a goatee that is clearly made of granite.

     It was 32 degrees out.  Fun.

     We continued on our routes and he demonstrated how to finger through the mail.  I observed how he quickly sorted through and delivered each address's package.  I sensed the excitement of possibility rising in my chest as we conversed about the postal service and all things disregarding the postal service.

     After the initial day, I'm exhilarated to have realized this sensation of being alive!

Summertime is Great

After watching this video, I was inspired to write this poem to my friend, Del.


Summertime is Great



I don't know how.
I don't know why.
My pupils are dilated.
I can't find the sky.

It could be this.
It could be the
red and white peppermint twists,
hiding under my tongue.

A chill so deep,
coursing through my bones.
After watching this video,
I can't help but moan.

Why oh why, Del?!!
Why'd you make me sit
through the blissful reverie
and treasury, such as this?

I see myself now,
in sleeves of white
in a rubber room
under the cover of night.

Laughing at the cat
who's floating under my tree
Pit, pit, pat, pat,
goes my drool to
the pool underneath me.

Alas, and farewell
to the logic I ONCE had.

In my heart and my soul
I feel, and I know,
somehow and some way,
this video is...inspiring.