Dear Heartbeat, v. 1

[From the Envelope...]

Dear Heartbeat,
This is the first of the looooooong letter
you requested.
As this is truly more a prelude than a letter, 
I will leave it to you
to determine if it merits
the requirements you might have (un)
intentionally set forth for
your requested letter.

M---

Heartbeat,
Write you a letter, you said, a looooong letter,
you said.  About what I think.
It goes without saying (he says)
that how I write, what I write,
lends itself not that well
to the form of a letter.  Letters
are, I'm sure you're aware, a lost
art-form; there was a time -
prior to instant communication -
when letters were relied upon
to convey all of the weight
of the distance and the absence
between the writer and the receiver.
It does not go unnoticed that to have
a letter one must have words
comprised of letters; it's like when
the woodsman walks into a forest
with an axe and the trees look
at the handle and say, "Look!
He's one of us!"

The 'about what I think' is problematic
a bit, isn't it? Because it wants
solidity of thought, it wants a non-
fluid but linear movement from A
to B to maybe A again
but then maybe to C.
Digression
is frowned upon; it is, of course
however, my modus operandi.  It is
that which creates new paths.

This is a brill point to discuss new paths, a
phrase I've used ad nauseum for a while
now.  One does not always take
or seek new paths - they are not part
of my m.o.  Digression,
yes; new paths, no.  Explore
all the intricacies of the path
you're on, I say.  They are
endless, and if you're on the right path,
they will last you a lifetime and
beyond.  Not every path
is the right path, the path
throws up enough tangles and vines
that you know you can,
should go no further.  And
so you are forced from the path
you were on, or you want to
leave the path you're on - you
know it's not right, or it's empty,
or you're tired of walking along
this path together, or for what
ever the reason, you know...
You know that the path does
not hold you in the same
regard as you hold the path -
that's when

[break]

Right.  Sorry.  Took a break.
Was saying.
That's when, etc.
This isn't really about paths, anyway;
or letters, for that matter.
Give a pen (or a pin)
enough rope and you can hear
a pin drop - no, no, he can -
the pen - spend a lifetime looking
for a big enough eraser.  Always
something to be re-said, or said
better.
Fail.
Fail
better.

This is part one of I don't know
how many missives this will stretch to.
A loooooong letter, you
requested.
I don't know that you meant
in serial form, but
tah-dah!!
Serial letter.
If you're reading this base, vapid
preamble, all
is well.

Til anon ---

M---