I found a love letter tucked into an old book of poetry at Half Price Books

I found the folded paper and thought, as I often do when finding folded papers inside of books at secondhand shops, "man wouldn't it be a joy if this was some old love letter?"

and then it actually was

This kind of shit makes me glad to be alive.

I bought the book, by the way.

Not for the poems, most of which I already have, but because it would feel wrong taking the note without buying the book.

you are a twee guy from the old school and I admire you

Scans or it didn't happen.

A relevant older thread:

Things found in used books

Love letters belong in poetry books. Otoh, for some reason people put money in Bibles.

aw that's nice

what it says?

for some reason people put money in Bibles.

Really? I gotta start buyin' me some testaments!

pffft

get back to me when you find a suicide note

and how come no one mentioned me in the most positive posters thread?

Scans or it didn't happen.

― Dr More BS (libcrypt), Thursday, January 22, 2009 3:43 AM (9 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

I'm not sure when, or if, you will discover this--but if you do--I'm thinking of you now & ever. You've changed my life Randall. Before you I wasn't sure why I bothered, but you've given dimension and color to a previously flat and anemic existence. As much as I pride myself of my literacy, words escape me when I try to due (sic lol) justice to the happiness you have given me. I wish I could spend every moment with you, but the practical world intercedes. You are mine, aren't you? I'm yours Randall, ever and always, if you will it. I love you. When I'm away you are with me in thought, and I with you. I wonder what you do, and even that bridges the distance.

It's unsigned.

cell pwn pic forthcoming

What was the book?

Love,
Randall Jarrell's mistress

"as much as i pride myself of my literacy"

ha that one was me, but "due justice" was her/him

What was the book?

― kingkongvsgodzilla, Thursday, January 22, 2009 6:26 PM (4 minutes ago) Bookmark

17th Century English Verse starring John Donne and some contemporaries

not to spoil your feel-good vibe hoos, but that totally sounds like a fake note someone put in a book for lolz.

grinches gon' grinch

ha w/e it made my day fake or not

http://xs435.xs.to/xs435/09044/noname484.jpg

sounds pretty real to me

i mean had i gone out of my way to play such a prank i woulve included more lolz

I think internet-bred skepticism is totally getting out of hand when we engage with a regular-ass semi-pretentious love note like we're wary of getting hoaxed

But I guess we've all been hurt before, by notes in books

troo

;_;

i'm kind of disappointed. for some reason i would find this way more romantic if it came from the dude, but because it's from the lady i want to be like 'oh get over your sex and the city fantasies!' lolgirls.

kinda tender but mostly o_O

Is it fair to assume that Randall is a bit more "literary" than the note-writer, that the note-writer is really taken with this, and that the note-writer is kinda trying to match those airs?

http://www.cpinternet.com/dwagner2/misc/clerks2.gif

and she did leave the note IN A BOOK

Pic looks like "Dear nob suck, when or if you discover this..."

http://www.sage4.com/images/randall/randall12.jpg

You are mine, aren't you? I'm yours Randall, ever and always, if you will it.

uh-ohhh

Right?

this was written by a goth chick, y/n

Is it fair to assume that Randall is a bit more "literary" than the note-writer, that the note-writer is really taken with this, and that the note-writer is kinda trying to match those airs?

i'm imagining Randall as some dude named Randy who really wasn't into it

Is it fair to assume that Randall is a bit more "literary" than the note-writer, that the note-writer is really taken with this, and that the note-writer is kinda trying to match those airs?

― nabisco, Thursday, January 22, 2009 6:59 PM (9 minutes ago) Bookmark

Yeah throughout the book are notes written in the same handwriting, so if I'm trying to piece together a story I'd think she used the book as a text for class and then gifted it to him (with the note inside) because she knew he had an affection for the poetry.

but then he never found the note or read the book? or he did find the note left it in there forgot abt t and sold the book - or someone else sold it

maybe she lost the book and someone else sold it! randall never got the msg and she never knew he didn't get it and assumed he did and didn't reciprocate!

hoos you have to fix this

And she sold her hair to buy him a watch-chain, but he sold his watch to buy her some combs

so does the book have her name in it

ogs leave love letters in books of RJ's lit.crit not his mostly-wack poetry

oh, ogs read the whole thread before posting snarky zings ;_;

I'd leave love letters in Pictures from an Institution. Funny love letters.

assuming its a girl i mean

http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x161/robertwolf8080/xkcdrandall-1.jpg

I was being gender-neutral upthread but the handwriting makes me feel comfortable assuming it's a woman.

To be fair, it is a very sweet note and doesn't strike me as something many people would write in a O_o kind of way, or even as any kind of unexpected declaration. (Though I do wonder how it would wind up in a book with her notes about Randall's favorite lines in it!)

I was being gender-neutral upthread but the handwriting makes me feel comfortable assuming it's a woman.

so sexist

hoos theres no indication anywhere what the girls name is? or where shes from?

― 8====D ------ ㋡ (max), Thursday, January 22, 2009 10:21 PM (5 minutes ago) Bookmark

No clues whatsoever. No name or area codes or university bookstore stamps or anything.

you need to dust for fingerprints

http://www.bbc.co.uk/films/2003/01/09/images/dermot_mulroney_about_schmidt_large.jpg

To be fair, it is a very sweet note and doesn't strike me as something many people would write in a O_o kind of way, or even as any kind of unexpected declaration. (Though I do wonder how it would wind up in a book with her notes about Randall's favorite lines in it!)

you dont think reading or re-reading this poetry--which randall seems to have introduced her to--moved her to write a letter about how much he means to her? and maybe she stuck it in the book because she wanted to keep writing it, or revise it, and never came back to it? or she was too embarrassed to give it to him?

so note going to happen

I guess that's the most sensible story! Or maybe this was the first draft, and she copied the real thing out nicely on better paper.

good theory max

imo the o_O aspect is in her impoverished worldview

is there a fine strand of light brown hair trapped in the pages that could be tested for mitochondrial dna.

from a narrative point of view i want it to be that she wrote the note inspired by donnes poems and was too shy and bashful to do anything with it but put it back in the book where it kept company with its thematic peers

I'm not sure when, or if, you will discover this--but if you do--I'm thinking of you now & ever.

sounds like maybe she left it in the book for him to "discover"

oh yea, good point. i should have gone back to the source.

she has got us all thinking about randall, but probably only now, not ever.

But Que, that's why I was just asking why she'd leave it in her book of Donne, which she has already notated with stuff like "this is R's favorite line."

This is a mystery wrapped in an enigma wrapped in a riddle wrapped in a secondhand book of poems

when you give someone your personal copy of Donne, it's a way bigger deal than just going to the store and buying a new copy, no?

maybe she stuck it in the book because she wanted to keep writing it, or revise it, and never came back to it? or she was too embarrassed to give it to him?

― 8====D ------ ㋡ (max), Thursday, January 22, 2009 10:30 PM (13 minutes ago) Bookmark

This struck me as well: it seems short as love letters go and it's unsigned and kinda without closure, I think maybe Nabisco's first draft note is correct

i agree that it is first drafty, but i can't get past that "discover"

maybe R. isn't randall, maybe there is a menage a r's.

i assume that is a joke that makes sense with an antipodean accent

r kelly

"O where ha you been, Lord Randal, my son?
And where ha you been, my handsome young man?"
"I ha been at the greenwood; mother, mak my bed soon,
For I'm wearied wi hunting, and fain wad lie down."

"An wha met ye there, Lord Randal, my son?
And wha met ye there, my handsome young man?"
"O I met wi my true-love; mother, mak my bed soon,
For I'm wearied wi huntin, and fain wad lie down."

"And what did she give you, Lord Randal, My son?
And wha did she give you, my handsome young man?"
"Eels fried in a pan; mother, mak my bed soon,
For I'm wearied wi huntin, and fein wad lie down."

"And what gat your leavins, Lord Randal my son?
And wha gat your leavins, my handsome young man?"
"My hawks and my hounds; mother, mak my bed soon,
For I'm wearied wi huntin, and fein wad lie down."

"And what becam of them, Lord Randal, my son?
And what becam of them, my handsome young man?
"They stretched their legs out and died; mother mak my bed soon,
For I'm wearied wi huntin, and fain wad lie down."

"O I fear you are poisoned, Lord Randal, my son!
I fear you are poisoned, my handsome young man!"
"O yes, I am poisoned; mother, mak my bed soon,
For I'm sick at the heart, and fain wad lie down."

"What d'ye leave to your mother, Lord Randal, my son?
What d'ye leave to your mother, my handsome young man?"
"Four and twenty milk kye; mother, mak my bed soon,
For I'm sick at the heart, and I fain wad lie down."

"What d'ye leave to your sister, Lord Randal, my son?
What d'ye leave to your sister, my handsome young man?"
"My gold and my silver; mother mak my bed soon,
For I'm sick at the heart, an I fain wad lie down."

"What d'ye leave to your brother, Lord Randal, my son?
What d'ye leave to your brother, my handsome young man?"
"My houses and my lands; mother, mak my bed soon,
For I'm sick at the heart, and I fain wad lie down."

"What d'ye leave to your true-love, Lord Randal, my son?
What d'ye leave to your true-love, my handsome young man?"
"I leave her hell and fire; mother mak my bed soon,
For I'm sick at the heart, and I fain wad lie down."

Max you have failed to consider the possibility that estela is a pirate

how r-ful of me

i despise pirates.

http://www.randallrutledge.com/randall.gif

But Que, that's why I was just asking why she'd leave it in her book of Donne, which she has already notated with stuff like "this is R's favorite line."

I wonder if she had written this letter, and had a falling out with Randall before she had a chance to give it to him.

i think randall is made up

And then re-read the collection and wept, wistfully marking all of Randall's favorite couplets -- haha Hoos, are there any tear stains or smudges?

How has Jaymc not found Randall's Facebook page yet, is what I want to know

Randall was sleeping with another one of his English students, and she finally found out about it.

I have to construct soapy stories around everything.

are there any bits where her pencil stabbed a hole in the page?

what is your vision of randall, nicole, mine has hemmed jeans and a thermos of soup.

and a pencil case.

he definitely has a ponytail, that is not in question.

And then re-read the collection and wept, wistfully marking all of Randall's favorite couplets -- haha Hoos, are there any tear stains or smudges?

― nabisco, Thursday, January 22, 2009 10:57 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark

it does not seem so!

Randall probably bikes to work and has some sort of goatee or beard.

hoos how old is this book??

assuming that the letter-writer was the first owner of the book, we might be able to get a historical time frame, by which we could have a better idea of what randall's haircut was like.

btw half price books is a pretty dope chain imo

Is that the one on Lamar, Hoos?

^ yes

hoos how old is this book??

― obi don quixote (elmo argonaut), Friday, January 23, 2009 12:53 AM (44 minutes ago) Bookmark

Nah book is older than the note: it's like c1967 or some shit. It's at home right now so I'm not pos, but the pages of the book were considerably older than the paper on which the note was written.

i found a suicide note on the side of the raod once

i found a love steen tucked into an old HOOS of poetry

http://www.lardlad.com/assets/episodes/season19/kabf04-big.jpg

Randall in better times.

Major lols at this:

http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x161/robertwolf8080/xkcdrandall-1.jpg