Del Mar poet, entrepreneur releases notecard collection

Harnessing her years of writing poetry, Del Mar poet, entrepreneur and philanthropist Melissa Joseph created Lotus Cards, which have stanzas of her original work and can be used for a variety of occasions and reasons.

“One day I just said I’m going to do this,” said Joseph, who learned early in life about the importance of writing thank you cards. “I have a poetry book, and I’ve been writing poetry since the book came out two years ago and I thought, ‘OK, I’ve got all this poetry I‘ve been writing and I’m not going to write another book, so why don’t I take it and make these whimsical cards?’”

The name Lotus Cards came from her therapy dog, Lotus, a poodle mix.

“She’s been very prominent in my life because she’s all love,” Joseph said. “I write about her, but not in any of these notecards, and I thought she would be the perfect logo for these cards because that’s what she represents, is love.”

Joseph added that the cards, which can be purchased with envelopes online, can be used for anniversaries or celebrations of any kind. Proceeds are going to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

“The cool thing about these cards is that they are not only relegated to holidays and birthdays of sorts, they can be given just for love,” she said. “And they’re nongendered. They can serve for men and women.”

Joseph also said that she started writing poetry as a child as “a way for me to get my feelings out on paper.” Jane Hirschfield was one of the poets she admired most.

“I kind of had a relationship with words because I’ve had this adoration with all kinds of words,” she said. “I just adore looking up words and having a very interesting vocabulary. That was a way for me to cope, to write my poetry.”

For more information, visit notecardswithheart.com.