Date: Fri, 25 Jul 2003 21:42:38 -0700

Dear Homeland Security Agents:

It is 25 July--and as the ink dries this announcement goes out and flies
through the internet to inform you that

Poetry Postcard Number 4 has been printed and is awaiting legions of letter
carriers to ferry them to you!

I am most certainly glad. How glad? I made a curry today. That's right.

Something has changed, so listen up! I've given up on the "first come, first
serve" system. I just printed enough cards to meet the mailing list, plus the
random distribution requirements. The edition size is a whopping 152 copies--a
good number that properly inflates my ego because it suggests that the project
is growing. Suggestions are really funny things.

We are now operating under the hated "opt-out" system of postcard delivery. If
I've sent a postcard to you in the past, you'll get one every month until you
tell me to stop. Moved? I'll need your new address.

What about the postcard? It's a tactful little piece by an anonymous author,
entitled "A Second-Hand Poem". It's an oh-so-standard 6"x4.25", set in metal in
University of California Old Style, a typeface designed by Frederic Goudy for
UC (Berkeley) in 1938. It's a beautiful typeface with a very open feel. How
open? You'll see.

You can get a digital version for free from UC here:

http://identity.berkeley.edu/style_dg_type.html

For those of you who live in the San Francisco Bay Area, I will be leaving
free, pre-stamped cards at the Green Apple Fiction/Music Annex (6th Ave and
Clement St) and at Adobe Books (16th St and Valencia St).

Thank you for your submissions! The next three poems have already been chosen,
and they're all wonderful.

Take Good Care!

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