Austin Peay professor connects with pandemic-distanced friends by sending original poems on antique postcards

Andrea Spofford had 50 antique postcards, a typewriter and a plan. A poet, essayist and Austin Peay State University associate professor of English, Dr. Spofford created her plan in mid-March, around the time most states shut down in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. “As I thought about what it means to be socially distant, I also thought about how we make connections,” she wrote in Journal Nine recently. Spofford announced the project on Facebook: “I have 50 antique postcards, a typewriter, and a plan. If you would like an original poem written by me and mailed by the USPS, message me a mailing address.” Friends and families quickly claimed all the postcards, which she bought from an antique store she frequented during graduate school. “I wanted to reach out, to make art and to continue forging those connections that were so suddenly disrupted,” Spofford wrote for Journal Nine. She typed her poems on a collection of Curt Teich & Co. postcards from 1900-1940 that featured landscapes and national parks. She mailed them all over the country, from Clarksville to Arizona, Louisiana and California. Journal Nine – the quarterly online poetry journal noted above – published several of the postcards and poems. You can read about Spofford’s creative process and how she typed the poems without revision – despite her perfectionist needs – at https://www.journalnine.com//andrea-spofford. To learn more about APSU’s Department of Languages and Literature, go to https://www.apsu.edu/langlit/.

Spofford typed original poems on 50 antique postcards and mailed them to friends.

(Posted July 7, 2020)

Andrea Spofford had 50 antique postcards, a typewriter and a plan.

A poet, essayist and Austin Peay State University associate professor of English, Dr. Spofford created her plan in mid-March, around the time most states shut down in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“As I thought about what it means to be socially distant, I also thought about how we make connections,” she wrote in Journal Nine recently.

Dean Barry Jones shared his postcard on Facebook.

Spofford announced the project on Facebook: “I have 50 antique postcards, a typewriter, and a plan. If you would like an original poem written by me and mailed by the USPS, message me a mailing address.”

Friends and families quickly claimed all the postcards, which she bought from an antique store she frequented during graduate school.

“I wanted to reach out, to make art and to continue forging those connections that were so suddenly disrupted,” Spofford wrote for Journal Nine.

She typed her poems on a collection of Curt Teich & Co. postcards from 1900-1940 that featured landscapes and national parks. She mailed them all over the country, from Clarksville to Arizona, Louisiana and California.

Journal Nine – the quarterly online poetry journal noted above – published several of the postcards and poems.

You can read about Spofford’s creative process and how she typed the poems without revision – despite her perfectionist needs – at https://www.journalnine.com//andrea-spofford.

To learn more about APSU’s Department of Languages and Literature, go to https://www.apsu.edu/langlit/.

News Feed

View All News

New sculptures coming to APSU's Arts Quad on May 5

Austin Peay State University's Department of Art + Design, in collaboration with the Center of Excellence for the Creative Arts, will install two new sculptures by Brett Douglas Hunter and Howard Russo at 9 a.m. on May 5 in the Arts Quad, on loan until 2028 through an Arts Project Support Grant from the Tennessee Arts Commission.

APSU professor's Unbannable Library to display in New York City during World Voices Festival

The Unbannable Library, a series of giant interactive book installations led by Professor Paul Collins, will travel to New York City for the PEN America World Voices Festival from April 29 to May 2, featuring a collaborative work by four Department of Art + Design students.

APSU's Southeastern Grasslands Institute releases 'open habitat' status assessment, conservation plan for Cumberland Plateau

The Southeastern Grasslands Institute at Austin Peay State University has released a comprehensive status assessment and conservation plan for the Cumberland Plateau, identifying approximately 28% of the planning area as targets for restoring open habitats such as woodlands and savannas that support at-risk wildlife.