Excerpt from Twenty-three to Twenty-one

Photo by Álvaro Serrano on Unsplash

Twenty-three to Twenty-one
Author Michael Ceraolo





​The following short poems are from Twenty-Three to Twenty-One, so titled because a woman named Julia Sand wrote 23 letters to Chester Arthur, the 21st President.  Her letters total over 150 pages, and the author has condensed and re-arranged them as well as adding a few imagined parts as connective tissue.  If Arthur ever responded to her letters, no response is known to have survived, therefore the author has used his imagination to come up with responses.

---

​ #14

 

                         46 E. 74th st.  New York

                                          Aug 15th 1882

 

Hon. Chester A. Arthur.

 

Well, have you not five minutes to spare for me

when I have spared so many hours for you

in this long, sad, exciting year?

When I was an invalid

it seem quite natural that I should not see you

but now it is different

And this, perhaps, is the last time

that we will be near enough for there

to be any chance of our meeting"

Do not subject yourself

to the slightest annoyance for my sake,

but, if it is possible, I do want to see you

 

But that is not all I wish to write

If you have influence
I only beg of you to use it with conscience":

name a man who is worthy to be Governor,

one of whom the state may be proud"

And one more thing:

Do not at the last moment

do anything weak in the Star Route cases

it is one of the most painful things in life

to turn away from a friend

But do not waver

your duty to the country stands above all else

Make it so "the people may await . . .

with perfect confidence

all your actions & decisions

                                        Yours Sincerely,

                                                                 J.I.S.

                                                     [Julia I. Sand]"

 

 

Arthur:

 

Miss Sand,

 

I will do nothing to weaken

the government's case on the Star Routes;

the case will be prosecuted to the limit of the law

 

 

             #15

 

Hon. Chester A. Arthur

 

Are you offended with me--- really--- seriously?

Do the few harsh things I have said to you

outweigh all else---

the fact that for a whole year

I have thought of & felt with you

in your cares & perplexities---

that last summer, when you were bowed down in gloom

& seemed almost broken in spirit,

I did my best to rouse your manhood & your courage--

that I had faith in you

 

I still have that faith, but perhaps

this is the last chance of our meeting

I expect to leave New York

 

                                        "Yours Truly,

           

                                                             J.I.S.

Aug. 19th/82                               [Julia I. Sand]

 

 

Arthur:

 

(Please don't leave New York in the next few days)

Bio: Michael Ceraolo is a 62-year-old retired firefighter/paramedic and active poet who has had two full-length books (Euclid Creek, from Deep Cleveland Press; 500 Cleveland Haiku, from Writing Knights Press) published, and has two more (Euclid Creek Book Two,from unbound content press; Lawyers, Guns, and Money, from Writing Knights Press) in the publication pipeline."