SELF-PORTRAIT as a PEN-PAL: I have deep feelings for books, the sea, coffee, stationery. My ideal party---writing letters, quietly. I'm also sticker-hearted; to me, brightening up an envelope is sublime entertainment. "I am I, plus my surroundings." If that's true, it's my snail mail duty, then, to tell you about the Philippines, Scotland, Chicago, New York City, Italy, the Netherlands. Now, say you have a garden. Then, imagine seeing a unicorn in it. That's what your letter is: an enchantment, that leaves me dazed, with gratitude. I own a pen that vows to write you back, again and again.