dear elmer

you could have taught my mom some finnish and swedish.

but you were the quiet type.

it's okay.

mary

dear father

stephen richard eng,

i know you are not dead.

but you don't talk any more.

you were such a big talker.  thanks for all the words.

like "interestingly enough" and "profound" and "astute."

i'll come see you soon.  i can't wait.

love, mary eng

dear elliott smith

i think i almost had a fatal heart attack a week ago from last sunday over "punch and judy"

just the first 20 seconds of it made me so sad my heart pounded so hard it hurt me.

i think that is what they mean by dying of a broken heart.  except i didn't die.

so that's cool.

i think its kinda cool you might kill me from the grave.

lots of people miss you,
mary

anais nin

i wouldn't sleep with my father, but overall he was pretty cool.

thanks for writing though.
mary

dear simone de beauvoir

this man grabbed my mother's breast tonight at an art show.  he said rude things to me and her.

i wonder if he read the second sex.

your grave rocks!!!!

i totally get it, the cool thing about the sartre affair.
totally

mary

dear anne frank

i feel just like you most of the time.

except the blogosphere is everywhere almost.

except the prisons and the deserts where people are starving to death, and the insane asylums where people are incarcerated forever, or lobotomized for thought crime.

but overall, i am safe, in exile, writing, and afraid, just like you.

i'm sorry about everything.

mary

dear michael

i think you looked beautiful
mary

dear MLK

i think we need some more help.

mary

dear saddam

my conflict resolution teacher thinks you were tortured.

she told us dental torture is often used to create extreme pain.

torture trends.

if that is the case, i'm really sorry.

i don't agree with the death penalty, either.

but then again, i have a safe life.

i think it was creepy what they did.  you too. so this makes me feel weird trying to get in touch.

is there internet where you are?
mary

dear tracy coss

sorry about the death.

i really didn't know that when you said friend you meant drug dealer.  that was annoying.  i wouldn't have driven you there.

but other than that, i heard you were brilliant, and you had a certain charm.

spider virus.

mary eng

dear miss hayes

i am sorry about the accident.
nobody expected it, but they were sad.

maybe i met you once, but i knew your family.
mary eng

dear andrea

before you died you told me it was so cool that i was this badass actress.

i don't know why you thought so.

oh maybe you saw me perform my belle of amherst thing.

well that was long ago, and i ceased to care about such things.

but you would be happy to know i was there for your sister alaricia katharine broadbent, an amazing artist.

we became friends.

i always liked you.

nobody took your passing well.  you were too beautiful and strong.

steffie giles made it through.

i was there for her.  she was beautiful too.

i remember you.
mary eng

dear salvador

dali

you did not ever have to eat after gala passed.

i like that.

i know the feeling.
love

mary

dear virginia

dear virginia,

i am not sorry you went as you did.

dying with dignity

when the time is right,
is a poetic thing.

and you wrote plenty enough to let us know your lighter side.

love, mary and the waves and the moths

dear emily dickinson,

i don't think it is wrong to have epilepsy.

i know he was very nice when he came.

too bad he had not space for you

but he had eyes for certain.

that you knew, a little too well.

and he had words.

love, mary

dear gandhi

thanks,

mary

dear mary kangas,

dear grandmother,

the holocaust happened.  i'm pretty sure.

i can still feel it.  happening.

i'm sorry it wouldn't happen in your mind.

i am sorry you smoked so much tobacco.

but i am glad about you being an aries.

leo and aries get along well.

so after we got the holocaust part established, maybe everything would be okay.

except you are dead.

you could have made it to ninety.

but you know a lot of stuff has happened since you died.

mainly, the internet.

i bet you'd be blogging.

mary eng

helen

you were so sweet, i loved you dearest grandma!

helen stephens eng.

tell me about your mother ruth balsy stephens.  and dexter.

tell me of alexander stephens.

tell me of the wars.

i am so sorry i came so late in your life.  i wish we had more time together.

thank you for loving ransom.

stephen was a good father.  you would love how much he knew about all his wonderful books.

he was a scholar.
not of money, but of ideas.

i remember the last time i saw you, on the chesapeake; you wore red.

thank you for the trinkets you left for me!  they were so fine!

mary

dear ransom ludwig eng

dear ransom ludwig eng

my gracious dear dead grandfather,

i wish i knew what the CIA was up to.

is it true you advised johnson?

might you advise me?

mary