From Postal Worker to Poet Laureate

On the weekend, a less than cautious driver in a giant pickup leveled my brick mailbox while trying to turn around. Until I get a bricklayer on the scene, it looks like the mail will have to be retrieved from the post office. All of this has got me to thinking about poets and the post office.  You know, the poet and novelist Charles Bukowski worked for the post office, and he even published a book called, you guessed it, Post Office. When I was young, I was a casual carrier on the south side of Fort Worth, and while I hardly consider myself in the same league as Bukowski, my doggerel has occasionally reached publication. Acclaimed Texas poet William D. Barney, who worked for the postal service in Fort Worth and Dallas for a thirty-five year span, was actually Poet Laureate of the state. In terms of national attention, he received the Robert Frost Award from none other than Robert Frost himself. There must be something about delivering all of those postcards.

Here is a link to the Handbook of Texas article about William D. Barney.

https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fbafm