The E-male

Copyright © Diane Chang Li-Ann

Often, we wrote to each other
preferring the eloquent solidity of
the written word
to the ephemeral impermanence of
the voice.
His handwriting was
scrawling, sprawling
illegibly across the page
(he was brilliant)
as thoughts and ideas gushed
directly from his mind
to the virgin page.
Then he acquired a computer.
Having discovered e-mail,
he writes to me less and less frequently
as it is inconvenient to find a mailbox.
And even when he writes,
he does not write.
He types.

He sets his ideas electromagnetically
in letters that do not reflect himself
the way his writing holds up a mirror
to his soul.
And though now he is infinitely more legible
I would give the world
To return to the days
when his handwriting danced erratically
Across my mind.

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