The substitute rural postal carrier
by Eileen Mish Murphy
Even junk mail
can be exciting
when you’re retired
or quarantined
It’s fun to see
how many folks wait
behind their drapes
for
her truck
to arrive
The dirt roads
to backwoods trailers
are always flooded
So her van
always gets mired
in the mud
& sometimes
she has to leave
her vehicle
& walk through
a pack of outdoor dogs
to knock on a door,
carrying packages
while wearing
a mask
& clutching
pepper spray
PHOTO: Rural delivery from U.S. Postal Service. Photo by Tupungato, used by permission.
NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR: My sister, who is a rural postal carrier, is the person in the poem. The pandemic has increased her workload tremendously because everybody is buying things from the Internet, and so there are a lot more packages to deliver.
PHOTO: The author (left) with her sister.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Eileen “Mish” Murphy lives near Tampa, Florida, with her Chi-Spaniel Cookie. She teaches English and literature at Polk State College. Her poems have been published in numerous journals and literary blogs, including Silver Birch Press, Tinderbox Journal, Rogue Agent, and Thirteen Myna Birds. She is a staff writer for Cultural Weekly. A prolific book reviewer and visual artist, she has also done the illustrations for the highly acclaimed children’s book Phoebe and Ito are dogs written by John Yamrus. Fortune Written on Wet Grass was her first full-length collection. It was followed by the poetry chapbook Evil Me. Visit her at mishmurphy.com.