Letter from Sunnyside

Suzanne Morris

February 19, 2023

Dear Susan,

I’ve been thinking of you and

reminiscing as another year slips by– 

I wonder if you recall a morning

during my visit to Manhattan

that October long ago

when first we knew each other: 

caught in the spell of

our own wordsmithery

we journeyed by train to the

hamlet of Tarrytown

to see the home of the writer

Washington Irving

with its quirky Dutch stepped gables

and pointy roof

overlooking the Hudson River.

It was a cold and misty,

blowy morning,

the kind that might portend

the dark and dismal night when

Ichabod Crane, superstitious 

schoolmaster of

the storied village of Sleepy Hollow

rode a poor broken-down nag

deep into the woods

haunted by the galloping

headless horseman

never to be seen again.

We stood together

beside a table within

a small chamber– as if conjured there

by the writer himself–  

gazing at the river through a

window veiled in a

thin curtain that billowed crisply

in the stiff, chill breeze.

And on this table stood a

tall candle, its willy-nilly light

casting bizarre shadows like

goblins upon the walls.

I remember your New York-sensible

trench coat and rain hat, and

how your cheeks glowed rosily

above the candle flame

when you turned to me

and smiled.

How young we were then!

How innocent of the twisting

narrative unfolding before us

where, at any turn, we might have

lost our way.

Now, whenever I gaze at the

framed picture of Sunnyside 

hanging upon the wall

in the room where

I conjure my stories,

I remember being there with you

in that moment, how the

candle flame between us

flared and flickered

but never went out.

Yours always,

Suzanne

A note:  Susan Schwartz was Suzanne Morris’ book editor for a career spanning 40 years, beginning with Morris’ first novel, Galveston (Doubleday, 1976).

Suzanne Morris is a novelist and poet.  Her poems are included in various anthologies, including No Season for Silence (Kallisto Gaia Press, 2020) and Gone, but Not Forgotten (Stone Poetry Journal, 2022).  Examples have also appeared in Texas Poetry Assignment and The New Verse News.