JUMP TO THE LETTER POEM EXAMPLES (updated August 2025)
Letter poems are in my top three favorite poem types (after list poems and sonnets), and my most recent poetry manuscript is built around them. In the past, I’ve also participated in letter poem exchanges with fellow poets, and I highly recommend it. These pen pal-esque writings benefit from vivid accounts, comfort/intimacy and the energy of deep conversation, and they’re a joy to write.
I find that even when letter poems are “made up” (i.e. not part of an official correspondence) they deliver depth and emotion that can be tricky to pull off in other forms. Perhaps it’s because we, as poets, instantly feel connected to the “recipient” of the letter, which creates a kind of comfort that puts us at ease and simplifies the task of having something to say.
Whatever the source of the magic, letter poems have something special for readers, too: They let us in on private experiences and offer us glimpses into the relationships between others. (And who doesn’t like a little peek behind the curtain?) This dynamic is so compelling it can carry entire manuscripts, as in The Naomi Letters by Rachel Mennies, Yours, Creature by Jessica Cuello and Constellation Route by Matthew Olzmann.
What is a letter poem? and How to they work?
The most basic definition of a letter/epistolary poem is that it’s a poem of direct address. It sounds like a letter and addresses an other — Dear _____, who is most often a living person known to the writer. This isn’t always the case, however. An “apostrophe” is “a direct address of an inanimate object, abstract qualities, a god or a person not living or present” (poets.org). My list of examples below includes these apostrophes, as I consider them part of the letter poem family.
Want to know more about letter poems? Check out these resources:
- Poetry Foundation’s “Learning the Epistolary Poem“
- Poets.org’s brief history of the epistolary poem
- Poets.org’s collection of epistles
I’m especially fond of “Learning the Epistolary Poem” by Hannah Brooks-Motl, which asks some very good questions about the form. If you’re planning to attempt a letter poem of your own, it’s critical to consider what Brooks-Motl is asking,
“Does the poem have to be an actual letter? If it was sent to a person—especially one ‘close to the writer’—what does it mean that other people are now reading it? If it wasn’t sent to a person, how does it count as a letter? Why write a poem that looks like a letter, or use a letter as a poem, anyway?”
Along with the history of the epistolary poem and some great examples, Brooks-Motl’s article does answer (directly and indirectly) some of the questions she poses:
“One thing we expect of poems is that they stand alone: we shouldn’t have to know context or background to understand a poem. Poems should contain their own directions, allow us to assemble and read them on their own terms. But we know that letters are only products of context. They are part of endless chains of other letters and communications, and when we read them we can be comfortable and even delight in our only partial knowledge.
“Epistolary poetry also focuses our attention on the audience (the ‘to whom’) of poetry rather than its subjects and meanings (the ‘what’). … Poets who use epistolary address also attempt to figure out not just who that ‘you’ is—whether it’s a close friend or all posterity—but what, and how to meaningfully communicate with them. It’s a question poets have been asking themselves since writing, and letters, appeared.”
I hope you’re already enamored by the form, but if not, I’ve personally curated this list — sorted alphabetically by author’s last name — to help you fall head-over-heels in love.
40 letter poem examples
- “To the Woman Crying Uncontrollably in the Next Stall” by Kim Addonizio
- “Dear J.” by Kazim Ali
- “To a Young Poet” by Zaina Alsous
- “Dearest Thanatos,” by Traci Brimhall
- “Letter to America” by Traci Brimhall
- “Dear Desert” by Sarah Burke
- “Dear P. [If you are]” by Victoria Chang
- “Your mother, whose name I could never pronounce” by Keats Raptosh Conley
- “Dear Mother,” three poems by Jessica Cuello
- “Dear Creature” by Jessica Cuello
- “May 14, 2020” by Julia Kolchinsky Dasbach*
- “Letter to Myself as a New Father: January 6, 2009” by Hayes Davis
- “To the Four Spiders Statistics Says I Will Swallow in My Lifetime” by Chiara Di Lello
- “Revolutionary Letter #3” by Diane di Prima
- “Dear Tiara” by Sean Thomas Dougherty
- “dear (little church girl),” by Jessamyn Duckwall
- “Four Love Letters” by K. S. Dyal
- “Dear Whitney, On Your 57th Birthday” by Joan Kwon Glass
- “Dear Anne,” by Leah M. Gómez
- “Dear Vincent” by Yong-Yu Huang
- “Letter From My Older Brother” by Jules Jacob
- “To the Snowman on Ocean Avenue” by Dean Julius
- “Dear Audre” by Molly Sutton Kiefer
- “Letter to a Friend After Dr. Christine Blasey Ford’s Testimony” by Jessica Lee
- “July 16, 2016” by Rachel Mennies
- “October 6, 2016” by Rachel Mennies
- “November 30, 2016” by Rachel Mennies
- “Dear Future Me (#11)” by Lena Moses-Schmitt
- “May 14, 2020” by Luisa Muradyan*
- “Notes to Maria” by Scott Neuffer
- “Letter Beginning with Two Lines by Czesław Miłosz” by Matthew Olzmann
- “Letter to Someone Living Fifty Years from Now” by Matthew Olzmann
- “Letter to the Person Who Carved His Initials into the Oldest Living Longleaf Pine in North America” by Matthew Olzmann
- “Dear Andy” by Emily O’Neill
- “Dear Monochrome Heart” by Karen Rigby
- “Letter to Sycamore Canyon” by Brooke Sahni
- “Letter Found on the Body” by Corinna McClanahan Schroeder
- “Love Letter to Who Owns the Heavens” by Corey Van Landingham
- “Letter to My Husband Far Away” by Gillian Wegener
- “Dear Anne Spencer” by Lesley Wheeler
- “Dear Absent” by Marcus Wicker
*These letter poems are part of an exchange published in Issue 27 of Waxwing Literary Journal, where you can read more of them.
I’m happy to continue adding to this collection of letter poems. Got a fave that I’ve missed? Let me know, and I’ll take a look. Also, be sure to check out other popular lists published at this blog:
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