Handwritten Mother’s Day Cards

Poets.org is promoting the personal touch this Mother’s Day:

“I didn’t care about the gift. / It was the note I wanted, / the salt from his hand, / the words,” admits a woman awaiting a Mother’s Day package from her son away at war, in Frances Richey’s poem “Letters.”

There is no substitute for the intimacy of a handwritten note, no gift as singular as words carefully considered and chosen. The impulse to personalize correspondence is evident in the custom to sign letters by hand, even when the rest is typed.

Like a fingerprint, handwriting can identify its owner, even mood and intention can be revealed in the bends and crosses of letters, hidden in the slant of cursive. In her poem “Consider the Hands that Write This Letter,” Aracelis Girmay describes the act of writing: “The left palm pressed flat against the paper, / as it has done before, over my heart, /in peace or reverence / to the sea or some beautiful thing.”

Poets.org has provided a selection of downloadable stationeries and poetry quotes for your convenience.

As a mother, I’d like to say that I’d accept lined note paper and an original thought, prose or poetry. Though I might recommend turning to the great poets for inspiration and guidance.

If you’re into e-cards, the National Wildlife Federation has a nice selection. They’re free and you can personalize them — maybe even with a poem, though no personal body minerals will be added.

I need to let you know, too, that Standing Women will be stand together again this Mother’s Day. Make a commitment to stand for five minutes of silence at 1 p.m. on May 10, wherever you are.