Let\u2019s just say it\u2019s the one describing
her father\u2019s recent illness, how just before his fever broke
his cough morphed into the sound of a steam engine
hauling tourists up the two percent grade
for one last glimpse at fall\u2019s fading colors,
or maybe a request for money to repair her car,
the one her friend borrowed, crashing it
into a utility pole and breaking her leg
after trying to tune the radio from Country
to Rock\u2014or was it vice versa?\u2014
or perhaps an invitation to join the prayer chain
that her new, so-called friends recommended after discovering
her inability to make a financial contribution,
her checking account needing some kind of assistance
to grow from red to black,
or a plea to help pay for her cousin\u2019s
prescription meds, the ones he can no longer afford
since his job and budget were downsized\u2014
cut down with those of many others
to pay for the CEO\u2019s retirement,
or maybe word of the warm spell
bringing rain and wind, the combo toppling
her neighbor\u2019s dying oak\u2014severely topped
just a year or so ago\u2014and collapsing
the newly installed greenhouse like an umbrella,
that is, the message that was never written\u2014
or at least never sent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n