The Academy of American Poets explains “Epistolary poems, from the Latin epistula for letter, are, quite literally, poems that read as letters.” In our fourth annual Inspired workshops, we wrote poetic epistles to loved ones, both old and new; to characters we’ve never met, both real and imagined; to strangers in gas stations; to a string of emotions; and to inanimate things—our own poetry, NPR, Proctor & Gamble, language, and of course, mountains.

These poems will give you access to the vulnerabilities and personal stories of the poets living and writing among you. You may not know who we are, when we might surface, or when you will need us—but we are here in these pages for you to discover. And really, what have you been missing by not knowing us?