Letter at the Office in Her Mailroom Cubbie by Shoshauna Shy

I am one of the husbands
of your husband’s lovers
states the letter written
on 24-lb. bond
Her fusty-sweatpants Teddy
who snorts when he sleeps?
Spends evenings Velcroed
to his TV-lassoed chair?
You ought to know they meet
in a cabin on Lake Wist
says the pale slanting script
Call me to devise what
our strategy will be
Area code and cell
but no signature
no name

She flips the envelope over
Sees it’s actually addressed
to somebody not her
Lets the paper fall in folds
ordained by its own creases
Rewraps this missive
intended for her boss (7 months
pregnant and married but a year
“to Mr Right who loves me
more than anybody else”)
and positions it discreetly
in its rightful slot–
or drops it in the wastebasket
at the bottom of the stairs?



Shoshauna Shy is the founder of the Poetry Jumps Off the Shelf program. Her poems have recently been published by Poetry South, RockPaperPoem, Write City Magazine, and Pure Slush Books. Her poems have been made into video, produced inside taxi cabs, and even decorated the hind quarters of city buses.