Best Mailbox Poems
first snowfall
pristine coat of white
footprints to mailbox
AP: 1st place 2025, Honorable Mention 2020
He remembers when his many bolts
weren't ringed in rust,
and his seams weren't blackened
with years of grime and dust.
The post upon which he sat
was gray and weathered now,
and had become just slightly
west of plumb somehow.
The screw that held his little flag
had long ago come loose,
chipped and faded, no longer red,
it was of little use.
The driveway that he guarded
was dirt and deeply sloped,
and halfway down it gently curved
around a massive oak.
Now some might think that he'd be bored,
stuck there night and day,
but he found entertainment
in the things that came his way.
He pondered long and hard on things
before making up his mind,
there was no hurry, he reasoned,
when all you have is time.
He carefully watched a nest of ants
both day and night for weeks,
before he reached the conclusion
that ants must never sleep.
He marveled at the seasons
and loved both sun and snow,
but sometimes he felt beaten down
when the wind-whipped rain would blow.
He loved the feel of bird feet
when they used him as a perch,
and when a truck would rumble by
he'd feel his spirit lurch.
He delighted in the field mice,
and wept with the mourning doves,
was suspicious of the furry raccoons,
with their masks and leather gloves.
Though days and months and years went by,
and he was oft ignored,
his life of perfect stillness
was itself a rich reward.
So as we hurtle past him,
with our tires spitting rocks,
perhaps we could learn something
from our stoic old mailbox.
The dusty road cuts through the rolling green plain
No twist or bend or end in sight
Only a small puddle from a recent rain
And a mailbox standing upright.
It used to bring letters, cards from one and all
And on holidays a treasure
A link to the outside world, refused to fall
A beacon it would bring pleasure.
Now it stands empty, and yearns for attention
Its gaping yaw, now want for news
It seems that its purpose in life is now done
Now abandoned, it has paid its dues.
And once in a while, down that long dusty road
The search for a card continues
But only catalogs, and trash by the load
Disappointment always ensues.
Seems the internet replaced the written word
So easy to click a greeting
You can even add sound for it to be heard
As the mailbox takes its beating.
The poor old mailbox is the bane of mankind
But another use I can see
Make a nest for the birds, the postman won’t mind
And then put it up in a tree!
a rusty mailbox
covered with briers and brambles –
broken house
12/29/2016
a new mailbox
with children planting flowers –
homestead
12/29/2016
an empty mailbox
with the door broken off –
rainfall
12/29/2016
a full mailbox
covered with morning glory –
e-bay
12/29/2016
I see it every day
Everyone wants to tell me something:
I'm the best in test!
You must surely have ....
One is colorful another bit boring
Excellent deal!
Buy two get one free
Very cheap .. You save a lot of money
You MUST have it!
Buy today .... pay in 3 months
This is my mailbox
Commercials
21.11.2012
A-L Andresen :)
Empty Mailbox
Papa, the mail box is empty again
Every day we walk down the road
Hoping to see something from Berlin
In that little box that holds so much hope
It’s just a little white box
At the end of our driveway
On a post the color of a fox
Address is 101 Sunset Highway
The little red flag is up today
So the mailman knows to stop by
He doesn’t have much to say
No letter from you, he doesn’t know why
Papa, every day we send you a note
And pray you are receiving them
All of us contribute in the hope
You’ll see that each one is truly a gem
We ask God every day for your safe return
So, you hurry home or try to send a note
Because the crank on the car is hard to turn
Mama misses you and it’s hard for her to cope!
stopped in a crowd
didn't go with the flow
a brief second
lifted my head
from the ground
from the neon
the chitty chat
all the glitter and glow
nonstop static
from madison ave.
from hollywood and vine
(especially up pennsylvania ave)
beating up
my soul
abused spouse of life
government
family
your insatiable gods
a tax on the very air
(exhalation is free...for now)
as we squabble
we crow
we throw in for all our -isms
occupy
don't occupy
throw those bastards out
or keep 'em in
I don't care
'cause it's all about control
not about your sophistry
your jacking off into a microphone
a chemical imbalance
an ounce lost at death
but as we all feel specific gravity
of an unnamed need or pull
warm blanket
higher cause
justification for
all those purity laws
we'd all put someone up against a wall
and pull the trigger of our righteousness
(don't we all have a pair of jackboots
in the mossy closets of our minds?)
even Mother Theresa
had to wonder what it would be like
to shake the living hell outta someone
when they passed a leper by
and nothing is as easy
as it was yesterday
but no one cares
that it's not that the cage isn't there...
it's just too big to fly across.
Mailbox
So every evening
coming back home
I take a knowing peek
inside the old mailbox
and knowing I know,
it seems to me,
the rude bare bottom
sneers at me
Many days have passed
the cloud has gone in the spring day
and the leaves of autumn had flown
into the empty sky,
searching for a place to go
Like the letter in the mailbox
that has grown old, forgotten by times
every word written has been gently erased
forgotten by the heart and mind
thrown into the wind of past
Cheryl Aldea
February 20, 2014
country mailbox
red flag up
first christmas cards
AP: Honorable Mention 2025
When consulted, the mailman said,
"Sure, put a little daisy on the mailbox if you want."
So we all put on daisies.
Martha put one daisy.
I put up two, the girl down the street put on a marigold.
The mailboxes were now in a little competition.
One day we discovered Glory had bested us all.
Her mailbox was saturated in a bed of purple clematis.
The joke was on her.
She received this note “mail cannot be delivered due to bees
until removal of bush”.
Want or need, need or greed.
All three grow well in the credit garden.
Regulated by naught except desire,
To have just a little more,
Than the one next door.
Then greed ferments into power for the few.
Making addicts of the many,
Drinking ever deeper into debt.
Buy it now and pay later.
Those well-worn words that sound brand new.
So go ahead, and place your bet.
And later learn what the house rule really is.
Those with the very least,
Always pay the most.