Daily the packages pour in

From all over the world.

Hefty correspondences in thick, official envelopes

Announcing their provenance.

I pore over glossy brochures:

Students smiling in front of ivy infested buildings,

The august imagery creating an aching juxtaposition to

My grim surroundings of crumbling buildings.

I daren’t venture outside my neighborhood.

I need to soar away like the jets that

Nearly scrape my building.

Take me to from whence they came

Daily the letters pour in

From all over the world.

Single sheets in thin, official envelopes

Announcing their provenance

Crumpling and discarding

The gentle, generic rebuffs,

I await the transformative letter

That will surely arrive.

The torrent reduced to a trickle,

I watch with malice as the postman passes by.

Only one letter remains outstanding.

I daren’t open it when it arrives.