David Atwood
No Postage Due
I saw her with arms and ankles crossed, balanced
on another neighbor's porch as I drove by -
a slight frame in her postal uniform listening,
carrying the weight of someone's world –
the lost cat, lost love, lost job, lost letter
whatever burden they needed her to pick up
and carry away in her idling ubiquitous truck.
An ice cream truck when you expect a check
or a hearse when the electric bill looms.
Its purposeless red and blue racing stripes
suggest "we'll get there when we can".
So much of trust is earned
just by showing up every day
whether you carry something or not.
There is no corner to stick a stamp
on the world you carry on your route.
Bio
David Atwood is a native New Orleanian, poet, and voice actor living in Alexandria, LA with his wife, writer Christee Gabour Atwood. He earned a Bachelor of Architecture degree from LSU and has worked in radio in Baton Rouge, Atlanta and currently in Alexandria. His first chapbook of poetry "Find Your Way Home" was released in 2010, his second, "Catfish Bones and Cajun Ghosts" in 2016, "Instamatic" in 2022 and recently released his newest poetry collection called "Mud Boy". Atwood is a Pushcart Nominee, National Baseball Poetry Festival On Deck winner, and has been published in The Louisiana Review, The Raven Review, Delta Poetry Review, Louisiana Literature, The Aquila Review, Belle Journal, Verbatim, MockingHeart Review, The Stillwater Review, Grey Sparrow Journal, Stanza Cannon, Brave Voices, and Fresh Words Magazine.