April 9, 2015
Mrs. C. D. Wright
Dear Poet Project
Academy of American Poets
75 Maiden Lane, Suite 901
New York, NY 10038
Dear Mrs. Wright,
I am writing to you to express my gratitude for what you do. For how your poems have changed my life by simply reading them. And also to express how deeply I felt while reading each and every single word your poems to which I can relate to.
Your poem “Like Hearing Your Name Called in a Language You Don’t Understand,” describes such vivid imagery that brings any reader to the setting of the poem. The specific detail made me think of the place I was born, which can be described exactly like in the poem. However, I don’t live there and I only go back there in the summer to my little town Vallehermoso in Mexico. And like I had mentioned before I can deeply relate to this poem because while growing up in a Spanish speaking environment going to school and listening to English was something new. Hearing my name called by my teachers at times would frustrate me because of the mispronunciation, however, I would remember those days in detail while the classroom was silent and cold sitting in a round table with my classmates beside me staring while I had a confusing expression on my face feeling lonely. Your poem has made me feel that I’m not the only one who has gone through a situation like that. Although I am one who has gone through such an experience, your poem reflects on how at times when something as small as the mispronunciation of your own name a human being can remember everything with such vivid detail, such that we relive each second again.
I really look forward to one day meeting you in person and expressing to you how much your poems have inspired me in life. And our school would be pleased to have you visit at any time you would like. Our doors will be open for you.
Sincerely,
Dulce
High School Student
San Benito, TX