Written for:  dVerse Poets Pub
Exploring the poetic genre:  "Verse Epistle"
(posted by Sanaa)

"The Verse Epistle is simple to define – it is no more than a letter in verse form but its flexibility makes it difficult to encapsulate. Yet, it is that very flexibility that made it the most ideal form of the era.

Plainly speaking, the “Verse Epistle,” is a letter written in verse, usually taking as its subject either a philosophical or a romantic question.

For today’s Poetics, I would like you to write a Verse Epistle. Go philosophical, go solemn, go dark or perhaps political, pose a romantic question – as long as your poem emulates the style of the poetic genre– anything goes."


Though I know the patriotism
you feel for our country–
evident in your several tours
of duty–I can no longer bear
these angst-ridden days.  My love
for you has not tarnished as
your medals will someday.  My heart
breaks for us both, aches in
remembrance of our times together.
I pray for your safety of
body and mind, and hope you will
not think me unkind.  What sanity
I have left needs to be preserved
or I cannot live.  A large part
of my heart will forever hold
a space for you.

Exploring the poetic genre: “Verse Epistle” (Come taste the feeling)