Dear Georgina Marie Guardado 2022

From Matteo, Grade 8

Dear Ms. Guardado

Hi Ms. Guardado, my name is Matteo. I am a student in Palm Valley School and am currently in 8th grade. We had an assignment in English class to read a series of poems, choose one, and write to the author, so here I am! First thing I want to address is that I loved your poem “Eye on the Sparrow.” I personally am able to relate to an experience similar to this. A bird once hit my window and was dazed. Me and my family brought it inside and nursed it back to health during this time we held, pet, fed, and tended to the bird's needs. The bird was a little frightened from the start but quickly grew calm and all the bird's fear receded. Soon when it was fully healed we put it outside with some food, but it didn’t fly away immediately. It felt safe and comfortable but we still had a slight fear that the bird might have still been injured as it had a visible injury on its foot but it seemed healthy. We soon learned that the bird had been flying away and had just been coming back. Not to build a nest or live here but to visit and say hi. After the bird had left, many birds of the same species visited and still do very often and every once while I see the same bird with the same recognizable injury. No other poem I have read has quite really captured what this experience is like except yours.

But that’s enough about me, I am very curious and hope you don’t mind if I ask a few questions: What made you feel inspired to write a poem and publish it about this experience? How long did it take for you to write this poem? Did it write itself or did you have to thoroughly think it through to put it on paper? Do you on a daily basis write poems or do you have to wait for that idea to spark? If writing a poem do you have to be in complete silence or do you sit with a friend or pet? Please write back to me as I am very anxious and excited to hear your replies for this.

Sincerely,
Matteo

Dear Matteo,

Thank you so much for your letter. I’m so glad you loved this poem. I especially appreciate you sharing your story about the bird you and your family rescued! It’s a special thing to be so close to a wild animal, and it takes big hearts to want to help them when they’re scared or injured. We both had the same experience, that once the birds were calm, they didn’t want to leave immediately. It’s so sweet that the bird kept returning to say hello, and it must have felt safe enough to communicate with its fellows that your home was a good place. It makes me so happy to know this poem captured what this experience was like for you.

To answer your questions, I felt inspired to write this poem after having this very real experience with a California Towhee that ended up in my dining room one morning. This poem is a very true story and the experience is literal. One early morning, one of my dogs, Micco, woke me with the loud noise he was making stomping around on my hardwood dining room floor. I thought he may have been bothering my cat, but when I ran into the dining room, and yelled to Micco, he stepped back and looked at me and I saw the bird flapping around, trying to escape. I was able to capture her, then we sat on my back porch and I held her until she calmed down. She was so still and quiet and stayed in my hand until she was ready to leave. Micco by this time was quietly sitting behind us just observing.

Later that week when it came time to do some freewriting, I wrote about the experience. It stood out in my mind because it was such a quiet, still, significant moment; it felt like the world went completely still while the bird was recuperating from her scare. When I started writing, the poem came to life pretty quickly, within about 15 minutes. I revised it a couple of times and it felt like such an important poem to me, I wanted to share it with others. I do feel like it wrote itself in a way, I was just guiding it along. I don’t always write everyday, but I try to make time to write as often as I can. Sometimes, an idea will spark and I have to stop what I’m doing to start writing it down. Sometimes, depending on what the poem is about, I might need to be in silence, or at least listen to the birds outside. Sometimes, music inspires my poems so I might be listening to my favorite songs. Most of the time, I write at home where I live with three dogs and a cat. My dogs do like to sit close to me when I’m writing. What feels most important to me, is that I don’t force poems to be created, and in a way let them come when they come.

I hope this answers all of your questions and I thank you so, so much for your letter. I hope birds keep bringing you happiness.

Sincerely,

Georgina Marie Guardado

From Izze, Grade 9

Dear Georgina Marie Guardado,

My name is Izze and I go to school at University School of Milwaukee. I am a freshman this year. When I read your poem, “Eye on the Sparrow” it caught my attention. I very much enjoyed reading your work and wanted to reach out to you about it.

My favorite part of the poem is the descriptive element that paints a picture in your head. But, to me the poem has a second meaning where you can compare the characters to people in life. Recently my grandma has been suffering from dementia and this poem reminds me of her, where she is the bird and I am the woman. At the end of the poem when she flies away then stops and looks back. This to me represents someone saying goodbye and that they will never fully be gone. Then the last line “how I love and let go all at once.” This is my favorite line in the poem, it shows that by the bird flying off you have to let go, but the created friendship will always be there.

When reading this poem, I was wondering why in the second line it says, “the dog’s paws tapping on chill hardwood floor.” What do the dogs represent? Why are they there? What is the purpose of the dogs tapping their paws? I also wonder how the bird got into the house?

I loved the way that this poem was written, and the images that it paints. I love reading poetry, I think it has a very special way of making an event seem special. My mom writes poetry so I am exposed to it often. Getting to read your poem was an honor and I loved it. Thank you so much for writing about it. I hope you have a wonderful day.

Sincerely,
Izze

Dear Izze,

Thank you so much for your letter. I’m glad this poem caught your attention and that you enjoyed reading it. I love to write using vivid descriptions and images, so I am so happy to know this was your favorite element of the poem. I also appreciate how you can relate this poem to people in life, and to your grandmother. I am so sorry to hear she is suffering from dementia. My grandmother also suffered from dementia, and it was very hard to know she was suffering from this condition during the pandemic. It is so touching to think about the bird in this poem representing your grandmother, and how you, as the rescuer and the observer, quietly sit behind as she flies on and looks back. I can definitely see how this represents someone saying goodbye and yet, how they will never truly be gone. Sometimes we have to let go when it’s the hardest thing we’ll ever do, and it teaches us about love at the same time.

To answer your question, this poem is very much a true story so “the dog’s paws tapping on the chill hardwood floor” was describing the sound I heard when I was woken up all of a sudden on a cold morning last autumn. When this experience with the bird really happened, my dog was rushing around the bird in my dining room and I heard his paws and claws stomping around on the floor. I have two rescue dogs and am currently fostering a third. I left my backdoor open the night before this happened, so I’m guessing the bird somehow decided to welcome herself right in!

I’m so happy that you have a love for reading poetry and it’s clear to me that you have the heart and mind to truly appreciate this literary art. I’m glad you also have poetry in your life through your mother. It’s an honor to have you read my poem and write such a lovely letter.

I wish for your years to be filled with beautiful poetry.

Sincerely,

Georgina Marie Guardado

From Lainey, Grade 10

Dear Georgina Marie Guardado,

Hello! My name is Lainey. I’m a sophomore at Edina High School, and within the last week, I have come to enjoy many of your poems. As a reader, even if I understand the merit of a piece due to the writer’s skill, that doesn’t necessarily mean I really resonate with it. I have not had that problem with your work. On your podcast, you’ve mentioned how poetry allows you to tap into strong emotions and present them to the world. If feeling is what you wanted to achieve in your writing, then boy howdy did you succeed.

Time is something you have mastered. The speed with which the speaker jolts awake in “Eye on the Sparrow,” “the time unknown,” to deal with the “rapid flapping” of the California Towhee captures panic perfectly (“Eye on” 2; 1). The intensity is zoned in on the actions of the bird and the speaker, contrasting the comedown and the details the speaker begins to notice as the adrenaline slowly dissipates. Their “bare feet” rest on “wet fall leaves” as they breathe in the “scent / of rain and dirt” (“Eye on” 13; 14; 15-16). The decision to avoid describing leaving the house emphasizes this change from a frenzied to relaxed tone, as the scene shifts suddenly from finally catching the bird to her and the speaker sitting and watching each other. “Cold Gin and a Pandemic” captured the weightlessness of mourning, the way the neverending “length of estrangement” loses its sting in the face of “the weight of regret” (“Cold Gin” 6; 7). I’m not sure I’ll ever really be able to describe the way isolation seemed to force me into my mind and into the past, but you definitely captured whatever numbness permeated my life. I suppose it’s always nice to know I wasn’t alone in that aspect. When writing, do you pay special attention to pacing to try and establish a mood, or does it occur naturally throughout the process?

Of the poems you linked to Dear Poet, a decent number seem to spotlight the connection between human beings, animals, and nature. The connection between the speaker and the bird begins when the bird allows them to hold them after finally losing energy. When they’re outside, “leaves rustle, wind and traffic / move along,” emphasizing the coexistence of natural weather patterns alongside the movements of people (“Eye on” 19-20). The bond becomes emotional as they sit on the stoop, non-verbally connecting now that the bird has calmed. Close up, the speaker can see that she has the same “loam” colored eyes as they do, which to me implied that they were both bonded by the simple fact that their lives ultimately spring from the same soil (“Eye on” 24). When the bird has the chance to flee, she doesn’t. Instead, they stay together for a while as the speaker ruminates on the tension of “lov[ing] and let[ting] go all at once” (“Eye on” 30). I love the wilderness of northern Minnesota, and I often spend much of my summers foraging for raspberries in the woods with my family. For me, the speaker’s conclusion rang true, as part of appreciating nature is just allowing it the freedom to do whatever wild thing it may wish. Making their eyes the color of loam struck me as a unique choice. What did you hope to
convey through such a specific comparison? As a bird enthusiast, I can’t help but read into the choice to make her a California Towhee. I’ve heard they’re shy, so I wonder if that was meant to signify the rarity of their trust? Or is this simply just a real thing that happened to you, and the bird just so happened to be a California Towhee?

Much of your work is longer than the other stuff I’ve read, and I’m grateful for every detail you add as it weaves a beautiful tapestry of imagery. The motif of fire and sunlight in “Bones for Everyone” was baked into every corner of the piece. The heat burned straight to the core of the speaker’s identity, which I thought continued the link between people and nature that I touched upon previously. Plants spring up everywhere, with “oleander bones,” “mint bones,” and “geraniums” all embedding themselves inside the speaker (“Bones” 24; 26; 14). The plants you chose all flourish in direct sunlight, perhaps implying that the narrator will also thrive when “what is in [their] bones” is “throw[n] into the pyre,” blooming despite the attempt to destroy them (“Bones” 32; 36). The imagery explored the tension between the pressures of the outside world, and how the speaker is able to respond and flourish despite, or even because of the fire directed their way. Beyond my understanding of the flora, did you intend to add any flower symbolism? Google search as I may, I haven’t found a common meaning that would align with my understanding of the poem. Similarly, while the speaker’s “tongue made up of suns” may have had a more poetic meaning, I chose to interpret it as though they were capable of delivering a verbal roasting (“Bones” 17). Is that accurate to what you were trying to accomplish? Regardless, it brings me some joy to think that the speaker can turn “slight burns on flesh,” the heat of the world around them, into something they wield from inside (“Bones” 6).

In the end, my favorite poem of yours was still the one I found the most emotionally raw and compelling. “Obituary” was so cutting I feel as though any attempt at analysis to explain why I love it would be woefully inadequate. Instead, all I will try to do is skim past the complexities and give you the closest approximation to the truth I can muster. It was good. Like really, really good.

Sincerely,

Lainey

Dear Lainey,

Thank you so much for reading my poem and writing such a thoughtful letter. I am so happy to read that my work resonates with you, and I’m thrilled that you’ve also listened to my podcast! I appreciate how intently you studied this poem. Time is an element that I wanted to effectively capture and create in this poem, since the experience that inspired me seemed as if it went by so slowly. Your recognition of the adrenaline easing over the course of the poem is meticulous, a skill that is necessary for reading and understanding poetry. You are also right on point about the emotional, non-verbal connection the bird and I were able to form in such a short period of time, and perhaps because we are both simply animals that came from the same soil, as you write.

I’ve heard so many good things about Minnesota and hope I can visit one day. Spending your summers foraging for raspberries in the woods sounds poetic in itself. I agree with you that part of appreciating nature is allowing it to be as it is and allow the living creatures to do as they wish. To answer your questions, choosing the word “loam” to compare the color of the bird’s eyes to mine was ultimately a creative choice of language so that the poem didn’t fall flat if I were to use a more ordinary color description, such as brown, for example. I also hoped to convey the idea that the bird and I are both animals grounded by the earth and the soil I walk on and she digs in. The bird that found her way into my home actually was a California Towhee. My experience with her was so honest and authentic, so I wanted to keep her species accurate in the poem. The Towhee species frequents my area and loves to spend time in my front and backyard. It’s interesting that they are a shy bird, though they often visit my backyard and walk past my glass sliding door, just checking things out. I would say that she represented a real thing that happened, but also the challenge of trusting others, and yet, trust can come so easily for me when it comes to animals.

I love that you also read “Bones for Everyone,” which is a more magical realism sort of poem packed with metaphor, and yet, there are real feelings of pressure, insecurity, and worries of erasure. There is also confidence and power in this poem, and your review of it is stunning. Including plants in this poem which all flourish in direct sunlight was not intentional but it makes so much sense for you to point this out. I didn’t necessarily intend to add floral symbolism, but to include flowers I intentionally surround myself with in life, which is something that makes me feel beautiful and happy. Your interpretation of “tongue made up of suns,” is also on point. It’s a line that tells naysayers, “I have a voice and it is a mighty one.” I’m also glad that "Obituary" is a good poem! *smiles*

Thank you dearly for your insight, individuality, and careful attention to detail. I hope to one day read poems about raspberries in Minnesota summers.

Sincerely,
Georgina Marie Guardado

From Ivy, Grade 11

Dear Georgina Marie Guardado,

My name is Ivy, and I am a junior in high school. I am writing to you because I love your poem “Eye on the Sparrow.” Your poem made me feel my deep, personal connection to nature. I absolutely adore nature, especially birds (in part because I own three pet parrots). And so your beautiful imagery and description of the sparrow immediately spoke to me.

Reading your poem, I can vividly picture the frightened sparrow, then the calming sparrow, then the sparrow that sits and looks at you. And as I read your poem, I especially appreciated the line “[m]y thumb softly wrapped around her chest / feeling her heart rate regulating, her eyes opening, / her fear receding.” I feel a deep connection to this line because all of my parrots get spooked easily by ridiculous things (like a sliver of light coming in from the window). This connection was made even deeper by an experience I had recently.

Two or three weeks previous to writing this letter, I found one of my parrots, Opal, bleeding from her toe. I rushed to grab her as I yelled for help. The frightened, angry bird wriggled in my hand as my dad tried to stop her bleeding. Not possessing the right equipment, however, we had to rush her to the nearest animal hospital. Thankfully, they were able to stop her bleeding, and we took her back home.

The first day after Opal had hurt herself, I spent a lot of time with her. I scratched and stroked her head, trying to comfort her. “[S]he and I [watched] each other / in a place where time moves slower than the rest / of the world.”

As I wrap up this letter, I want to thank you for writing this beautiful poem. I feel a true connection to it, and it has helped to grow my love for writing. Good luck on all of your future writing, and I hope to read more of your work!

Sincerely,
Ivy

Dear Ivy,

I’m so glad that you enjoyed my poem, and that it resonated with your own, deep connection to nature. It’s a beautiful thing to be connected to nature, animals, and especially birds. I love that a parrot guardian connected with this poem! I hope Opal (beautiful name by the way) is doing well and thriving now after her scare and injury. She is lucky to have you and your father as her guardians. Those quiet, still moments we encounter when we’re tending to our animal companions is a special, almost spiritual aspect of life. My grandmother had many parrots when I was just a little girl and she had so much love for each of them. Thank you for reading this poem and for writing such a lovely letter.

Wishing you many poems and bird feathers.

Sincerely,

Georgina Marie Guardado

From Lili, Grade 9

Dear Georgina Marie Guardado:

My name is Lili and I am a freshman at Woodstock Union High School in Woodstock, Vermont. I am writing to you about your poem “Eye on the Sparrow” as a part of an assignment for Ms. Fountain’s English I class. I love your poem because nature is a big part of me; it always has been, and I’m pretty sure it always will be.

My favorite part of the poem was definitely towards the end when the sparrow was in your hand and you both were calmly observing each other. Your beautiful description of the connection felt between the sparrow and yourself rang true to me. It reminded me of all the time I have spent out in woods and fields, especially the times that I found a small frog, snail, or salamander and had the luck to hold it (after covering my hands in dirt, of course!) There is something special about holding another small life in your own hands. It's my favorite feeling, the sense that we’re not all so different at the core—not just humans, but all of us living beings on this planet. It reminds me of your comparison in the poem between your eye color and the bird’s, both “dark as loam.” I think humans have come to take advantage of nature as we’ve grown to see ourselves as somehow separate from it, when we are part of nature in truth.

I noticed that you didn’t use too much embellishment in your poem. I like that because it lets the narrative nature of the content shine through rather than distracting the reader with a bunch of flowery flair. That being said, you do make use of some literary devices, but still only when it feels completely natural, never forced. In fact, I’ve had a bit of a hard time finding many uses of alliteration, metaphors, or rhyme simply because it all blends in so nicely. I do really like the way you used subtle rhyming to give a nice rhythm to the poem; for example, “fly her way out of walls until she finally calms,” and, “She catches her breath. My thumb softly wrapped around her chest.”

There was one line in the poem that confused me: “What seems like fate when safety is reciprocated.” I wonder, what exactly did you mean when you wrote that line? Perhaps you were speaking to the comfort felt when you feel safe in the presence of another person or being? I'm not quite sure. I certainly find that line very interesting. One other line that I’m also a bit uncertain about is “How I love and let go all at once.” I don’t know exactly what it means, but somehow I still find it very beautiful.

Thank you for writing this poem. I think it’s very important that we humans not lose sight of our place in the natural world, and I’m glad that I’m not alone in my appreciation of our non-human friends on this planet!

Sincerely,
Lili

Dear Lili,

Thank you so much for your letter and for reading my poem. I have a few poet friends who live in Vermont, and I have to say, your state is the home of some great poets! It doesn’t surprise me that you understand poetry so well. I’m glad to know that nature is a big part of who you are.

I was so happy to read that your favorite part of the poem was when the sparrow and I were calmly observing each other. I also enjoyed reading about the time you spend in the woods and fields encountering other small creatures. This reminds me of being a kid and spending time in a local creek or on a friend’s ranch where I’d find tadpoles, salamanders, lizards, worms, and even scorpions. I absolutely agree, there is something special about holding another small life in our own hands. Nature is so important and it’s important that we take care of all of nature, the same way it takes care of us. I remember realizing one day that somehow after I became an adult, I didn’t put my hands in the dirt anymore like I used to when I was young. I decided to start planting one day and I was thrilled with how much fun I had. It reminded me to never lose that relationship with nature again. I get excited when I see earthworms in my yard or hear frogs croaking at night. As you say, we are definitely a part of nature.

I am glad to know that not embellishing or employing too many literary devices worked in this poem’s favor. This poem could have been crafted to be a much more complex poem, but the experience in real life was so simple and authentic, I thought it would be best to relay it as honestly as I could with little revision or fancy tools. The moment between the bird and I was organic and not forced, so your recognition of this poem not feeling forced is truly appreciated.

To answer your question, when I wrote, “What seems like fate when safety is reciprocated,” I was trying to capture the feeling of how feeling safe and making others feel safe in return is how we should exist in life, and experiencing this with a bird felt like fate. It was very much referring to the comfort I felt feeling safe in this quiet moment with a bird, and how maybe she knew she was offering this to me with how much trust she gave me in return. “How I love and let go all at once” was meant to relay the fact that in life, sometimes we have to let go of what we love. When someone leaves us for example, we may learn that we have to let them go even when we so deeply wanted them to stay. When the bird was in my hand, nothing else mattered but this quiet moment where we both felt safe, and when she left, I almost didn’t want her to go but I had to accept her leaving.

Thank you so much for this beautiful letter. I sense that the both of us won’t ever lose sight of our place in the natural world, and our relationships with animals will only grow stronger over time.

Sincerely,
Georgina Marie Guardado

From Ella, Grade 10

Dear Ms. Georgina Marie Guardado:

My name is Ella. I am a sophomore at the Kinkaid school in Houston, TX. I am a studio artist working in many different mediums including photography and graphic design, but writing creatively or analytically has never been my strength. I have so much respect for writers because whereas I can cause someone else's emotions through pens, cameras and computers, writers use words. Your poem for example brought a feeling of peace by describing the world around you. You formed a peaceful scene with words which is something I hope I can do with my art.

Your poem in particular spoke to me because as I read it I saw the patience the narrator used with the bird. The way the narrator lets the bird calm down and do and say nothing except show the bird comfort. It reminds me of my father. In lower and middle school, I would get into his worn down Honda Element after classes ended and tell him all of the problems of my world. He would just sit listening to every gripe I had with my friends or the cruel words the bullies said. He would then say something kind and grip my hand to show me comfort. He would allow for the tears to stop flowing for my eyes as the narrator waited for the fear to recede from the bird’s eyes.

Now, I don’t get into his car crying anymore because I have found a stable friend group, and we have long since gotten rid of the Honda but my dad still is a rock in my life. He calms me down as I get overwhelmed by the homework and the studio hours and the tests and the quizzes and the papers and the sports practices that I have to deal with in everyday life. He helps me organize my thoughts and gives me advice on keeping my work organized. He not only helps me but is often the one who hears everything that goes wrong at my mom's work. He cooks dinner for us nightly and also does dishes. He is the person who keeps the family running as he drives me to school and to any events I need to go to. He does not hear thank you enough.

I also want to say I love the line “How I love and let go all at once.” This line shows the importance of letting someone you love go if it is best for them. It is bittersweet. It is happy and sad to see someone you love go on to something better when it means leaving you behind. I have one question about your poem. Why did you bring up the dog? I have owned many dogs in my life, and they often see small animals like birds as a tasty snack. Also, birds are often terrified of dogs. It overall adds a level of confusion for me, but I assume it has some importance to your poem that I don’t understand.

Best Regards,
Ella

Dear Ella,

Thank you so much for your letter, and for reading my poem. After reading your letter, I have to say that it is a wonderful example of writing creatively and analytically. I think this may be one of your strengths!

I appreciate the example of peace and patience you gathered from this poem, and how it speaks to the relationship you have with your father. When I was in middle school, I also had a hard time in school, especially with bullies. I’m glad your father provided you with the comfort and support you needed and that you now have a great group of friends. Other letters I received also interpreted this bird being a representative of the writers’ grandparents or themselves, so I love reading that in your case, the bird was your dad. We thrive having good-hearted, loving people in our lives.

Thank you for sharing your favorite line too. To answer your question, this poem was about a real experience I had when one of my dogs woke me up one morning when he was making noise in the dining room, his “paws tapping on the chill hardwood floor.” The bird had ended up in my house and he was rushing her and cornering her in the dining room. I have two big dogs and oddly enough, they will chase small animals but they don’t bother birds much. We spend a lot of time sitting outside when the weather is cool and just watching and listening to the birds. So this may have been why my dog, though he was scaring the bird, wasn’t trying to hurt her. In the end of the poem, my dog is sitting behind the bird and I, sitting quietly and observing. It was almost as if he was learning a little something about patience too.

Thank you again for your lovely letter. I wish you and your father so much happiness, and I wish you much creativity with your studio art.

Sincerely,

Georgina Marie Guardado

From Tristen, Grade 6

Dear Georgina Marie Guardado,

I really liked your poem “Eye On a Sparrow” because I connected to it in many ways. I am a person who enjoys outdoor activities like hunting and fishing. I spend a lot of my time outdoors at my family farm. I have run into multiple situations where I have had the chance to help animals or walk away just like the person in your poem.

I remember a time when I was five or six years old and there were some barn swallows that nested in the barn. One day there was a tornado nearby and it blew the barn door open. The nest tipped over and the baby birds came out. The next day when I went to feed the pony I found the birds. We ended up putting the birds back in the nest and within the next ten minutes the mom bird came back.

This poem means something to me because I relate to the things that are going on in the poem. One thing that was interesting is that the bird stayed in the person's hand and did not fly away, it was like it was thanking the person. Thank you for writing the poem “Eye On the Sparrow” and I really liked the poem.

Sincerely,
Tristen

Dear Tristen,

I’m so glad you liked my poem, and I thank you for reading it and writing your lovely letter. Thank you for sharing about the baby birds too. I’m so glad they had you watching out for them, and that their mother returned to them after the storm. I tend to believe that animals truly do feel gratitude when we show them kindness and when we offer them a sense of protection. I’m sure you’ve experienced this on your family farm, and will probably have many more animal encounters.

I’m glad this poem offered you connection and something special to relate to.

I wish you many more compassionate moments and animal poems.

Sincerely,

Georgina Marie Guardado

Dear Georgina Marie Guardado 2022

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Georgina Marie Guardado reads "Eye on the Sparrow"

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