The brash prose-poetry of Ella Mae Brewer

“Vin, sometimes you run excerpts from letters that arrive at your desk, but you rarely run an entire letter, much less an uninterrupted series of letters from the same writer, which would give us a better idea of the thought process of a typical reader.”

Yes, and there’s a reason for that. But since such requests continue to pour in, hereinafter please find the COMPLETE, UNEDITED, UNREDACTED e-mails received here over a three-hour period, earlier this month, from one of our more faithful correspondents, the brash, insightful, uninhibited lady we like to call Ms “Ella Mae Brewer” (not to be confused with Ella Mae Morse, who was someone else entirely, and whose 78s are well worth collecting.)

In addition to her insightfulness, her carefully nuanced shading between the real and the hallucinated, and a prose style reminiscent of a huge Viking berserker reducing your poplar-wood shield to kindling with the rhythmic assaults of his eight-pound war hammer, I believe Ms. Brewer’s self-discipline in ruthlessly limiting the length of each missive, even if it means ignoring such hidebound traditions as “ending each sentence,” have actually brought her to the threshold of formalizing a new (if yet unnamed) literary form, just as the Japanese brought us the rigorously limited, 17-syllable “haiku.”

On consideration, I have decided to retain the time stamps, which help convey a sense of the fervor, the drop-forge energy and pace at which Ms. Brewer composes when she’s “in the zone,” as we like to say, evoking in some a comparison with the working methods of a Bukowski or even a Henry Miller. On the day in question, for example, Ms. Brewer’s first e-mail arrived at …

05/06/10 09:50 AM
Letter Content:
i arrived from la graudia airport ,at least 30 minutes earlier , from the atlanta,ga airporton airtrans airlines, and that’s the best airport for nyc to use . the JFK airport, you have to pay 5 dollars , to go in and out of it to catch a tram to go to your departures, even to get your tickets,and even though the

05/06/10 09:55 AM
Letter Content:
you have to purchased a ticket from the machines or pay cash . now the staff their can swipe their card to let you in and it cost them nothing. and it has a door for handicapped people in wheelchairs and elevators, but other than that you will have to miss your flight if you don’t have 5 dollars . so if the Kennedys own the thing like they said they ain’t SHIT TO

05/06/10 09:59 AM
Letter Content:
they could of did that when jj jr. was telling hie uncle what was happening while attending nyu in the village . they are FULL OF SHIT AS WELL!! it’s as simple as that .they didn’t do shit here but attend parties. i should know i work there when the FBI was worrying us to death and all the dead bodies came in from the carribean in the full. body caskets.

10:03 a.m.
Letter Content:
and too the same people that are coming to lv now they had to come to pan am airport to themselves type the tickets for all their people to come back to their countries . why i don’t know . luckily i have relatives , because here we go with the bullshit. ax need to watch with a fine tooth while there . all

10:08 a.m.
Letter Content:
the hotels that i book through their web sites. i got a confirtmation, but i went to the hotels, they claimed that they didn’t received the emails , and ihad them talk to the reps at trip res .com , they told them that they didn’t have room . szo i wasted good money , and then too i have to go to tenn.to visited kkk. i then went aound the roses to different terminals on the tram in jfk, and only 1 and 4 has baggaes storages area that starts from 4 to 24 dollars ????

10:13 a.m.
Letter Content:
the storage one in terminal 2 0r 3 had people working in it , but they claimed that it wasn’t opened that the tsa hasn’t approved it to opened yet??? BULLSHIT. the decals for the credit cards they accepted and computers was on fire. then you can only go through terminal that has southwest to catch the main bus lines that takes you to where you have to go

10:16 a.m.
Letter Content:
and as usual they only accept change no dollars bills period. i bought a metrocard , that’s what it’s called at a check cashing place on lennox , where a three level Marshall’s is at . the shoes , the same ones at the store i shop at on maryland pkwy. the clearance items has the same if not more stock

10:22 a.m.
Letter Content:
with the prices 20 to 30 dollars higher than lv sdtores. call the manager and tell her ,she knows me well , not to let no stores in nv accept any merchandise period for refund at all . if or whoever call me on the street . first of all i don’t answer them, and iof they come to muy face .i will punch and spit in their faces. it’s as simple as that. it was so quite on b’way let alone the streets of dwntwn nyc. that i and three others was the only walking , and too ,the streets are dark as hell, and nothing is opened accept mcdonald’s.

10:28 a.m.
Letter Content:
which is the only place where you can go to the bathroom,except the greyhound stations,and too you cannot sit in the hotel lobby unless you have a room key. PERIOD. so i have to go to washington to have whatever i own tear down period . i’m really not that desperate to pampered child molesters.nad of course , whatever else the billionaire homosexual gave me . see it;s nice to know niggers that will kill for you and lose your self respect,then too

10:32 a.m.
Letter Content:
at the greyhound station down the street from b’way they had only one person working to purchased tickets and do will call. at the queens bus terminals they have up a poster to purchased a bus ticket to tropicana for 29 dollars ,to atlantic,and received 25 in free play when you arrived there .

10:36 a.m.
Letter Content:
SO YOU KNOW WHAT TIME IT IS WITH THAT!!!!GET ON THE FUCKING BALLS AND HAVE TO THE BALLS TO DO WHAT IS NECCESSARY TO DO!!!! most ofthe newspapers are free, except ny times,usa today,ny post, and daily news. if you want me to send you it . i need money to do so.

10:43 a.m.
Letter Content:
and now i’m in the apple store on 5th avenue and can’t sit down. so get in touch with mr. gates with what i own i have buyers. anyway i see that the prices are the as in the 80’s when i worked and live here. and i have my credit report with me from equaifax, and i went in person to bergdorf goodman, and they gave me a number to call . so i will be visiting them in person in dallas after i visited both the Bushes. and most of stores on 5th avenue opens at 10 am and closes at 8.9, and 10 pm. i haven’t visited my main store

10:47 a.m.
Letter Content:
make sure to get in contact with everyone i’m have power over in hollywood, that had , and still have their cards and bank accounts used without their permission, especially my cousin mr. douglas. let know what i type to you. he’ll know what to do .and let him he can meet me in tenn.,and i hace to check on presley’s property , that’s my responsibility too.

10:53 a.m.
Letter Content:
and too i’m supposed to go to court for transpass venetian for someone on may the 24th or 25th . let the judge see what i wrote you and he CAN CONTACT ME THROUGH THE EMAIL I GAVE YOU . i have too much to do until my cousin gets married. and i have to do it soon. i don’t have my phone on i purposely left it art home . and all the so called

10:57 a.m.
Letter Content:
the grand central station that none of the SHITHEADS CARE ABOUT AND MRS. JFKO , had to repairs and come up with the money with herself . all the personally plaques that cost her money are all not in the grand central station. in fact it’s empty.SO TELL STUPID ASSES TO ?????

11:04 a.m.
Letter Content:
and too i have to go to philly to get my birth certificate and visit family members and Hershey town, pa, that too i’m responsible for. i have my suit case at the baggage that cost me 14 dollars a day, and will go to the chruch that i belong to that is prosetant. all the people that was over there that claimed to be from other countries THAT YOUR STUPID ASSES LET YOUR STAFF BEAT UP IS IN ALL THE HOTELS OVER HERE . NOW YOU KNOW WHAT ALL THAT MONEY WAS FOR AND TOO THEY ALL NEW CREDIT CARDS WITH THEIR PICTURES ON THE FRONT OF BUSINESS SIGNATURES

11:08 a.m.
Letter Content:
with business /companies logos and their pictures on the front of it in color. and was sent to all addresses in nyc only. FEW PEOPLE THAT PAID FOR THEIRS , EVEN THROUGH A TRAVEL AGENCY WAS TURNED AWAY. AND MOST BECAUSE OF MOTHERS DAY WAS BOOKED YEARS AGO. AND THEY TOLD THEM THEY DIDN’T CARE LESS. BUT AS YOU SEE THE NIGGERS DIDN’T GO TO THJE JEWS IN WASHINGTON OR

11:10 a.m.
Letter Content:
or what the other did from canada to carson, and debate or complain. some of those that i recognized are working in most of the restaurants and department stores ,and hotels as security. let MR TOM JONES AND OTHERS ,HE KNOW WHO, READ EVERYTHING I SENT YOU .

11:31 a.m.
Letter Content:
i was able to get a few b. goodman catalogues. wait until you see how huge these bitches are!!!! i was in banana republic . and nothing has change in that area since the 80’s . they are full of SHIT AND IT NEED TO BE HANDLED WITHOUT CARE AND ASAP!!!! and i was the only one as big as it is .

11:32 a.m.
Letter Content:
i need cash until you know when??? write me on this email only !!!!

At this point, sadly, this particular day’s missives from Ms. Ella Mae came to an abrupt end. But never fear, Ms. Brewer continues to weigh in, on occasion. Perhaps, another time, and if public demand should prove sufficient, we’ll dip in for another sample of the brash prose-poetry of Ella Mae Brewer, Modern Scribe and Commentator Without Portfolio, in our next installment of … “Typical Readers Write In.”

3 Comments to “The brash prose-poetry of Ella Mae Brewer”

  1. liberranter Says:

    Let me guess: Ella Mae is a publik skool “teacher,” probably head of the school’s English Department. Judging from her “literary output,” I’m also guessing that she is probably the debate team coach and is also the only member of the faculty qualified to teach Advanced English Composition.

  2. John Brook Says:

    Those 20 emails would have cost Ella Mae $8.80 in postage alone. Perhaps email isn’t all it’s cracked up to be!

  3. GunRights4US Says:

    And remember – people like her vote!