Dear Kwame Dawes 2022

From Miles, Grade 9

Dear Mr. Dawes,

My name is Miles and I am a high school student from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Poetry has never been an interest of mine but your poem “Purple” caught my eye. I was drawn in by the line “I stripped away my fingers, stained purple; put it to my nose, the minty honey, a perfume so aggressively pleasant.” One of my hobbies happens to be gardening and this line reminded me of a summer day tending to my fragrant peach tree. I also work in my school's garden with one of my friends during the summer and fall. We harvest fruits and vegetables to donate to a food pantry near us. The imagery of the purple flower and the smell of minty honey also reminded me of the days working in the garden at school.

When walking with his daughter, the father discovers a purple fragrant flower. He hands her the flower and encourages her to smell it. She pulls away, wary of what he is handing her, as though it is something dangerous to her well-being. He encourages her to trust him and breathe in all that is sweet, to connect with how the air changes with the small bloom. He promises her he will never hand her something dangerous, just sweetness. The father is teaching his daughter the importance of trust, without it, the girl would never have experienced the strong aroma of the minty honey-scented bud. The daughter’s hesitation also demonstrates how difficult it is to build a bond of trust when she wouldn’t take the flower from her father at the beginning of the poem.

Some questions I have about the poem and your experience with your daughter would be: Did your daughter end up smelling the flower, and if so did she enjoy the smell? Also, did the sharing of the sweet smell of the flower help foster a strong bond of trust between the two of you? Although writing poetry has never been one of my passions, reading your poem has inspired me to try listening and reading poetry for enjoyment.

Although writing poetry has never been one of my passions, I enjoyed reading and listening to your poem. It has inspired me to make more of an effort to engage with poetry through listening and reading. This poem has shown me how poetry can connect different facets of your life into one to create a beautiful piece of artwork.

I enjoyed this poem as another example of the lessons we can learn from gardening.

Sincerely,
Miles

Dear Miles,

Thanks for your thoughtful letter. Your description of the poem is quite accurate, and your interpretation makes complete sense. This incident did happen, even though sometimes a poem will tell a story that is imagined by the poet to make a point. But in this instant, as the poem describes, I was walking with my daughter through a public garden and I saw a familiar plant, the lavender, whose leaves, when touched, leave a sweet and minty scent on the fingers. My daughter did smell it and we had a good laugh. The promise I make to her in the poem is a version of a biblical promise of a father never giving his child a snake for when the child has asked for a fish.

I am glad this poem has made you want to read more poems. I hope you will make it a life-long practice to be open to reading poems.

Sincerely,

Kwame Dawes

From Sierah, Grade 12

Dear Kwame Dawes,

My name is Sierah, I am a senior attending Peaster Highschool and a confident student in Professor Overall’s English 1302 course. I am writing to you to express my love for your gem “Purple.” To begin, I would like to mention the beautiful imagery you use throughout your poem. The way you dance around the use of the word “lavender” by describing them as “...bloom… of purple” places the picture of a mammoth field of purple flowers along a sidewalk as a father and daughter walk together. The use of words that relate to scent throughout the poem makes me feel like I am standing in the field breathing in the “minty honey.” Imagery spread throughout the poem brings back an adolescent memory that is buried in my brain brought back with hints of spring and happiness. Contrary to the Imagery the meaning behind the poem almost confuses me. I don't understand why the daughter pulls away in such fear, children are known to be trusting especially to loved ones, so what in the past has made the girl so untrusting. Is it the aggressive scent or the way the father almost forces her to breathe in the sweet aroma? In the end, you bring a more positive use of vocabulary back into the poem which twists my thoughts. My initial reaction was that the swift movement of the father's hand brought back memories of abuse or violence, but the father is protective in the end, contrasting my hypothesis. Overall the story is beautiful, a father and daughter cherishing moments together doing something as simple as walking near flowers is something more than a relationship. The bond is a deep connection that will last through the rest of their lives, and more importantly, the father’s promise adds a more emotional appeal to the reader. Every daughter desires for their father to be there for them and protect them no matter what. Which I feel is the true meaning of your poem; not the scent of lavender, or the beautiful imagery of the flowers, but the connection between a daughter and her dad. The protection that comes with this eternal bond and love that will forever be the two of them. Kwame Dawes, your poem inspired me, as a daughter who was deprived of the relationship with her father growing up “Purple” spoke to not just my mind but my heart. I want to walk through a neighborhood with a field of flowers at one side and a loving fatherly protector on the other. With nothing on my mind but the promise that I will never be given “...a fist full of wasps…”.

I hope that my feelings and thoughts over your magnificent writing intrigue you, and possibly coerce you to reply with further explanations and comments.

Sierah

Dear Sierah,

Thanks for your kind and thoughtful letter about my poem. I am glad you had a chance to read it. I have three children (they are all adults now), and over the years I have written poems charting our relationship with each other. Your conclusion about the poem is reflective of the reality of my relationship with my children—a deep love for them and a genuine like of them. They are very interesting people. My daughter did pull away when I brought my fingers to her because she was not sure if I was playing a practical joke and forcing her to smell something quite foul. She may also have been living out her squeamishness about nature. Of course, eventually she trusted me and took a whiff and loved it. But, as you say, the poem is not about the scent, not even about the lavender, but about love and the promise of protective love. I am glad you caught that. And I appreciate your honesty about your life. I am confident that you will find ways to give to those you care about that protective care, and that ability to share lovely things with them.

Sincerely

Kwame Dawes

From Eva, Grade 9

Dear Kwame Dawes,

I found your poem "Purple" beautiful, and am moved by the relationship which you present with your daughter. I am Eva, a high school freshman from Wisconsin. I have at times a strained relationship with my dad. He is kind and caring, but we don't communicate well, generally. It can be difficult to express how I feel to him, and it seems vice versa, but we love each other. I value our relationship, but at times it can be hard. With COVID, most of my family was quarantined away from my dad since he works in a CVICU and cared for very sick patients. Because of that, I didn't have contact with him for weeks on end, and that hurt our relationship, so in the last years, we have been farther apart. I hope for our relationship to improve, and our communication to grow, but sometimes he accidentally hurts me with remarks he doesn't realize could hurt. Your poem touched me, describing the relationship between you and your daughter.

This poem is so beautifully written, and the way it expresses the love shared between you and your daughter, it was so very pretty. I loved the moment when you promise never to "give you a fist full of wasps." To promise never to hurt someone loved is such an important thing to communicate, especially after they become defensive, and unsure of your intentions. I can relate to the idea of avoiding something a loved one gave me, needing to know if I will be alright. It is important, even in a familial relationship, to build trust, as someone can be afraid that a loving intention could instead be "giving you a palm full of wasps, / deceptions."

From a more artistic perspective, the poem is exquisite. The beautiful visual and odor of "'Smell the way the air / changes because of purple and green,'" was contrasted with the visceral reaction of feeling a "fist full of wasps." I found that in other poems of yours, you beautifully express the earth and nature, and this poem was no exception, even though it was relatively short to the other works. The vivid words depict a simple world revolving around the "spray of purple" and the scent it has. It is a world of innocence clashed with the hurtful wasps and deception that you promise not to let in. That is so beautiful, the serenity of it and the relationship. The ability for you to promise to your daughter, and recognize a need to tell her that, you will never deceive nor hurt her in any way.

I was able to read some of your other poems, and throughout them, I saw themes of family and the natural environment. I was wondering if the idea of ancestry and family stories is important to you as a father? In my family, certain stories have been kept that have hurt the secret bearers, and this has been told to me by my parents. To me, the idea of generational pain in families reminds me of a father not deceiving or hurting his child, of all generations helping the ones above and below it. Another idea I found in your poem was trust. Your daughter has to trust you to keep your promise of never hurting nor deceiving her, and that your intentions are good. Is it hard to make that promise, to know whatever happens it's your responsibility to keep her safe?

For me, it can be hard to understand that some of the things my father has said were not meant to hurt and that what I saw should not hurt intentionally in response. How do you show someone you love them if you didn't mean what you said? It can be hard at times to communicate clearly with my dad but on both ends, we are working on a more loving, understanding, and trusting relationship. I think your poem shows that trust is required for love and a relationship to be built. I think that's what poetry like yours can do. It can illuminate fundamental realities and beauties of people, concerning others.

Sincerely,
Eva

Dear Eva,

Thank you for writing some moving and thoughtful words about my poem, and especially about your relationship with your father. It is beautiful that you have the confidence that you love each other. You know, poets are people who have trained hard, studied long, and practiced for a long time to find language to describe the things we all experience in life in ways that resonate. You have shown me that the effort is not in vain. You will notice that the poem never uses the word “love.” Instead, it gives an account of something that allows us to arrive at words like promise, trust, and love. As you have shared, the great challenge of love is how the idea of love matches with the actions we experience. The poem, as you have observed, gives us some insight into the difficult and beautiful relationship between two family members—in this case a father and his daughter. It is not all “peaches and roses,” as they say, and perhaps when my daughter pulls away from my first gesture, it is symbolic of challenges that happen in all relationships. But, we forgive, we bounce back and try again. And in this instance, my daughter did smell my hand after her initial hesitation. I think she was not sure whether I was playing a practical joke on her, or maybe she was just squeamish about the unknown. You asked if it is hard to promise never to hurt my daughter. It is easy to promise, but the hard part is living up to the promise. I believe I have hurt my daughter before, but she knows in so many ways, that I have devoted my life to do everything I can never to hurt her knowingly and willfully. This poem, in a funny way, is my vow to her. Perhaps you can share the poem with your father. It is a short poem. Just let him read it. Let him decide if he wants to talk to you about it. As I said at the beginning of this letter, we poets try to capture thoughts and feelings honestly and beautifully so that others can connect with the experience. Thanks, again, for your kind words.

Best

Kwame Dawes

From Cristian, Grade 9

Dear Kwame Dawes

My name is Cristian and I read your poem “Purple” and I thought that this poem was amazing from start to finish. I noticed the use of literary devices throughout the poem, like when you said “fist full of wasps” was a line used to represent symbolism. I really liked this line because you know that you would never give her a fist full of wasps but you would give her love. I feel truly while reading this poem you meant every line and word. The way you read was in such a satisfying and pleasant way that when you started reading I instantly loved this poem.

This poem made me think about if maybe when I get older I will have a different view for my parents. I do love them a lot but sometimes I can get tired of them. I think when I'm older I will appreciate them more for everything they did or are doing for me. I came to the conclusion that the main message of this poem is about kids not knowing how much their parents love them. This is a very powerful poem for this message and made me think of my parents differently.

I have a couple of questions if you don’t mind. How did you become so good at reading a poem? When I read in general I sound like a robot and every time I try to read professionally and soothingly to get the reader's attention I get too nervous. I also have another question about writing a poem. How do you write a poem? Where do you even start? I think writing poems is way harder than writing essays or anything you have to write about from a book.

Sincerely,
Cristian

Dear Cristian

Thank you for your kind and thoughtful letter. I will answer your last question first. Writing poems is like doing any other craft, like learning how to play a sport, like learning to do something that has a long tradition and that requires skill and practice. I know you have probably been asked to write haikus before and it may have been annoying, but the haiku is one of the smallest poetic units we have, and the form may seem simple, but it takes years of practice to make a haiku that is perfect. Still, every haiku achieves something. I mention the haiku because the haiku is the image. Something seen, then captured in language. One of the most famous haikus is by a Japanese poet, Basho (who invented the form). There are many translations of the poem in English but here is one I like:

The old pond—
a frog leaps,
splash!

If you think of this as a photograph or a clip of a film, you see why it is an image. If you keep observing the world, and capturing it in clear language, you will be on the path to making poems.

As for reading poetry out loud, the rule is the same. Practice. I started enjoying reading from books out loud from a very early age, and I would do that on my own. I would imitate the voice of radio announcers and actors and so on. The more you practice and try to think of the feeling behind the words, the better you will get.

Your interpretation of my poem is accurate. And, yes, I am glad that the poem made you think differently about your parents. I learnt at a very young age that my parents really wanted the best for me, and I have always tried to remember this. Sometimes, as parents we are human and we make mistakes, but when there is love, and when there is the commitment to love in action, it usually works out. The poem is about both the challenges (her pulling away) and the joys of fathering a daughter. Try not to be too hard on your parents. ☺

Thank you again for your kind words.

Sincerely

Kwame Dawes

From Joel, Grade 10

Greetings Kwame Dawes,

My name is Joel, I am currently in 10th grade and I go to Centennial High School in Columbus, Ohio. In my English 10 class I have had the opportunity to write to a Poet whose poem I liked best. I read through many different wonderful poems other poets had written and came up with. While reading through the many poems, I read your poem “Purple” and it's the poem that connected with me the most and it made me write this letter.

As I read through your poem “Purple” the first couple of times I was confused on what exactly the poem was trying to say. In all respects you had a unique way with words that I don't think I had seen before. After a few times of reading it I caught on to what exactly the poem was about. A specific line in the poem had given me a vibe that caught my attention and it reminded me of my grandma from Mexico when she used to come visit us from Mexico during the summers and we would go to the park. After I finished reading the poem I sat and thought of all the memories I had with My grandma who has since passed away in late 2020.

I remember we would wake up and she would make us breakfast and then as soon as we would finish we would go to the park and she would walk around picking up different types of flowers. Her favorite types of flowers were a purple color and she would always love the smell of them and you would see her pick them up and take a giant inhale of the flower and she would exhale with a giant smile.

Secondly I told my other family members about your poem and I showed it to them. They all read it and they all said it had also made them think of my grandma. We all got to sit down and reminisce about the days when she was still around and we all had a good time together. I really love the way you put this poem together, my favorite lines that made this letter possible were Firstly “I stripped away my fingers, stained purple; put it to my nose” and “the minty honey, a perfume so aggressively pleasant—I gave it to you to smell.”

I want to thank you for being able to remind me of the great times I used to have with my grandma who passed away. I hope it was able to reconnect others with forgotten memories, and hopefully it was able to make them smile one more time remembering the happy memories.

Sincerely,
Joel

Dear Joel,

I truly love the fact that you shared this poem with your family, and that in this act of communion around a poem, you find some delight, and you could enact the rich bond of family. Lovely! And I am glad that you all enjoyed the poem, and that your grandmother was invoked in such a beautiful way.

You have, of course, understood the poem. It is a dear poem for me because it is based on something that happened. It is about my relationship with my daughter. I took the chance to remember an actual event, and to then share, first with her, and then to the world, my commitment to love her in practical ways. Of course, you noted that I did not share the scent in my fingers with her before smelling the aroma myself. And even though she pulled away at first, I am here to report that she eventually took a whiff and loved it.

Thank you for your letter and for your kind words.

Sincerely,

Kwame Dawes

From Isabella, Grade 11

Dear Dr. Dawes,

Poetry is a very vulnerable form of art. It is beautiful because it exposes a personal side of the author but at the same time it is intimidating for readers to be able to connect so personally with an author. I say this because your poem “Purple” has forced me to reflect on sides of parental relationships that I otherwise wouldn't have. The job of a father is obtaining a near impossible duality. They’re expected to be a protector and a provider. But simultaneously they are needed by their children to be vulnerable and nurturing.

The Imagery throughout your poem considerably enticed me with the way you presented “The minty honey, a perfume so aggressively pleasant”(4). The juxtaposition of aggressive and pleasant does a good deal in depicting a parental relationship. It can be intrusive most times.
These people constantly barging into your life to teach you things. But that is what can be so pleasant, their intrusiveness is usually to help you grow. I wonder, did your own upbringing influence any of the themes of the poem? With the reference to minty honey, this absolute
sweetness consumes me. An intrusive and aggressive yet pleasant sweetness, given from father to daughter. The repeating of “Purple” interested me as its connotations remind me of spring. It reminded me of the sweet smell of blooming flowers and the vibrant colors making their reemergence after a dull and lifeless winter. In the end, you also connected “purple and the scent of rain” which furthered the presence of spring throughout the poem. Symbolically speaking spring is often a time of new beginnings and fresh starts. Why did spring have such a pronounced presence in your poem? In this context, I’d like to think of it as blooming, and the way that a father constantly gives to his daughter ultimately helping her to blossom.

I am fortunate enough to have both parents in my life, however, my relationship with my own father has been that of many complexities. Although at times his urgings could be tough; His gift to me was never “a palm-full of wasps”(7). I believe that in our youth it is hard to see the good in our parent's intentions. Were there ever moments in your childhood where you resented your parents but can now look back and see the good in what they taught you? Your poem truly speaks to the struggles of teaching when you write “you pulled away as if I was giving you a palm full of wasps, deceptions” (6-8). When I was little my father took me out to go on my first ever mountain bike ride. Biking was something that he was very passionate about, a passion only to be topped by sharing this love for cycling with his daughters. It was his way of giving us a love to share. He took a very inexperienced and young me out onto trails and I looked at him like he was crazy. Needless to say, I spent most of the time walking my bike and sulking. Finally,
after endless encouragement and nagging, I worked up enough confidence to finally get on my two wheels and brace the trail. It was blissful. For a mere couple of seconds before I promptly fell off my bike and tumbled my way into a tree. He got me up and cared for me as any father would and I spent the rest of the day resenting him. Then later that night he told me that I should race the next day. This time I looked at him like he was even crazier. I said no and hated him for even bringing me out. And the next day I raced and have continued my love for the sport even nine years later. The reference to “deceptions” greatly captures how complicated it may be to see a father's intentions. Is it hard to teach a tough lesson to a child you love? There are difficult
lessons for fathers to teach but it is often not until you can grow and reflect that you see how what during the time seemed like “a palm full of wasps”(7) can transform into “Purple and the scent of rain”(12).

I hope this letter finds you and your daughter well, and I thank you for allowing me to return to the memories I hold with my father. “Purple” has aided me in reflecting on how much my father has influenced me. The person I am today is greatly owed to him.

Sincerely,
Isabella

Dear Isabella,

Thank you for sharing that lovely story about you and your father and biking. You are a funny writer. Your poor father—he just wanted you to learn this delightful pastime, and you were not having it. I had to laugh as I read your letter because it is so familiar to me. And it is consistent with the poem. To be honest, I never resented my parents as I was growing up. Of course, when they were punishing me, they were not my best friends, but I always had the confidence that they meant the best for me. But, as I have grown to be a father and to see my children become adults themselves, I have to agree with you that fathering can be complex and hard. It really did hurt me deeply when I had to punish my children, when I had to deprive them of things that were not good for them, when I had to push them to do better without hurting them. And as parents we always wonder whether we are doing the right thing. Like all relationships, things change, and if we are lucky and if we work hard at it, the relationship grows deeper with time.

The poem is based on an incident that did happen, and it is a small incident, but one that is rich with symbolic meaning. That promise of never giving a fistful of wasps is an allusion to a Biblical verse in which a father’s love is described as one in which the father would never give a child a snake even though they asked for a fish.

Thank you for your delightful and thoughtful letter.

Sincerely,

Kwame Dawes

From William, Grade 6

Dear Mr. Dawes,

A year ago, a teacher at my mom’s preschool passed away. But she wasn’t only a teacher, she was a good friend to me. I remember sitting at the breakfast table early in the morning and hearing the news that she had gone. Every time I go into the preschool it feels different without her. Her name was Ms. Long. Your poem reminded me of her because her favorite color was purple. She thought it was beautiful, she loved lavender.

My name is William and I am in the sixth grade. When I read Purple, I immediately loved it. On the outside, it was one of the simplest poems in the whole Dear Poet project. But when I thought about it more, I started to notice some of the meaning that was hidden deep within the text. That’s why it spoke to me.

I always looked up to Ms. Long as if she was part of my family, not just a teacher. She would always arrive at eight o’clock in the morning and greet me, my mom and my brother with a smile. All of the kids at the Montessori loved her as well. I always saw her as a very wise person who could offer help anytime. When you said, “I will never give you a fist full of wasps, just the surprise of purple and the scent of rain.” It reflected her in a beautiful way.

This poem leaves me with so many questions that I would like to ask; What does purple represent in this poem? What poetry writing advice would you give to a young, aspiring writer like me? What does this poem represent to you? To me, in this poem purple represents lavender or another type of purple flower.

Thank you very much for writing this poem. It brings back both good and bad memories. Even though I will never see Ms. Long again, she will always be in my heart and my mind.

Sincerely,

William

Dear William,

Thank you for sharing that touching story of your teacher, Ms. Long, who seems to have touched your life so much. I know that remembering her has been difficult, but I am also encouraged by your saying that the poem helped you to remember her with pleasure and warm feelings. That is what poetry can do. This poem is one of those that is based quite specifically on something that did happen to me. I do have three children (they are all adults now) and my youngest is the “star” of this poem.

And, you are right, the plant/shrub I describe is the lavender plant; a plant that always amazes me when I see its purple and green grace in gardens. I like to run my fingers over the leaves and then I put them to my nose and breathe deeply. I was walking with my daughter and wanted her to experience that delight, and the rest of it is the poem. But, of course, the poem goes beyond the incident. It is my way of vowing, yet again, to my daughter that I will not stop loving her and caring for her by not hurting her.

What you have observed about the poem is the detail—the care for detail. Poets are the select group of people who practice hard to have a facility with language and observation and deep filling, to put into words, as accurately and as beautifully as possible, the things that most people see and feel in the world. Poets have been doing this work all over the world since the beginning of human life (as far as we can tell), and to be a poet means that you will study the practice, collect words, observe the world and the feelings of the world, and use your own scrutiny of your life to create things of beauty. Writing poetry is like playing a sport, playing a musical instrument, learning a craft like carpentry. It takes work, it takes practice, and above all, it can be rewarding when a poem comes together well.

Thank you for your lovely letter and kind words.

Sincerely,

Kwame Dawes

From Jhonny, Grade 12

Dear Kwame Dawes.

My name is Jhonny. I am a Senior at Natick High School. In English class we have been discussing poems and the impact it can have on us as individuals. As I skimmed through each poem title something about the simplicity of a title such as “Purple” caught my eye. How can one word represent a poem? I soon realized that I was completely wrong. As I felt compelled to now “read it,” I soon found a genuine connection between the themes I found of the importance of trust.

Trust is a virtue we strive to have with others in order to have a genuine connection with them. As I began to read I found a relationship I wish I could have had with my parents growing up as a kid. The power of building trust between a child and parent is important. Seeing a parent try and put in the effort to help build their parental relationship is rare and essential. I could relate a lot to the daughter being cautious when the father offers her something. In lines 10-12 the father says, “This is the promise I make to you/ I will never give you a fist full of wasps/ just the surprise of purple and the scent of rain.” It stood out to me because it made me realize the importance of trust between a parent and a child. The importance of a promise to a child and how it can affect them throughout their lives. Children naturally want to trust their parents and have full confidence in them without any doubt.

After reading the poem for the last time one last stanza stood out to me for multiple reasons. The positive lens used by Mr. Dawes to describe the flower made me feel like the daughter slowly seeing the beauty that was hidden from the plain eye. It made me realize the importance of perception and the importance of viewing things positively; “Walking, I
drew my hand over the lumpy bloom of a spray of purple/ I stripped away my fingers, stained purple/ put it to my nose/ the minty honey/ a perfume so aggressively pleasant”. Many of us view being stained by something literally or figuratively as a bad thing as it changes what we are comfortable with. Sometimes when we expect the stain to be bad figuratively it can change us and bring positive impacts we were not expecting. If we decide to view it for its true nature we decide the impact it will have on us. All these themes found in the poem really made me think and have stuck with me until today and will continue to. The simplicity of a title opened a door of complex ideas for me to learn from.

Sincerely,
Jhonny

Dear Jhonny,

What has impressed me the most about your very thoughtful and moving letter is the way that you kept finding more and more ideas emerging from the poem. The poem does have a simple surface, but I wrote it with care to allow for layers and layers of complexity and you have shown a great skill and openness to discover new things in the poem. The poem is really, first a vow to my daughter. I have three children who are all adults now, and Akua is my youngest. She is a lawyer and has come to be quite the keeper and nurturer of plants. The poem describes what happened, but as you have observed, what gets to be in the poem is not everything, but those details that allow for symbolic meaning. This is what is called craft. I wanted to reassure my daughter that my commitment to not hurting her will be there for as long as I live, and this incident offered a lovely symbolic moment to express this.

You are absolutely right that the poem is about trust. In the complicated world of the relationship between child and parent, so much happens that can be difficult, and one of the key things needed is trust which is a vulnerable thing. I think your thoughts about the poem are most insightful, especially your observation that the ”stains” that we sometimes cover us can be things of grace and beauty.

Thank you for reading my poem and writing such a kind note about it.

Best

Kwame Dawes

From Moosa, Grade 12

Dear Kwame Dawes,

My name is Moosa, and I am wrapping up my final months at Natick High School before I head off to college. Ironically, I read your poem while sitting in a hospital cafeteria with just my dad by my side. It wasn’t as long as any of the other poems I had been reading, just 4 stanzas. However, the attention to detail, brevity, and deep message behind these 16 lines is what grabbed my attention. I was able to see the complexity of the relationship between a father and child in so few words. I asked my father what his initial reactions to the poem were, and he told me that he saw a father just trying to build trust with his daughter, trying to gain her validation as he wants nothing but the best for her. I interpreted “purple” as a metaphor for fresh perspectives, and the wasps for selfish advice. I was shocked that the daughter could even accuse her father of attempting to harm her, when all he wants is to offer her the best.

The most emotional line of the poem was when the father states, “[t]his is the promise I make to you: I will never give you a fist full of wasps, just the surprise of purple and the scent of rain.” He doesn’t claim to make any ordinary promise, he says this is the promise he makes to his daughter. Meaning that this promise is timeless and forever. He says he will never give “[her] a fist full of wasps,” he would never trick or deceive the daughter, or tell her something that would harm her. Occasionally, he will offer her a fresh perspective and some pleasant outlooks on life. The poem describes the father’s eagerness to share the smell of the perfume as soon as he smells it: “The minty honey, a perfume so aggressively pleasant.” A perfect illustration for how a father loves to share the wonders and joys of life with his children.

Relationships and interactions with parents can get complicated, as a high school senior, I know this firsthand. As children get older and grow up, myself included, we desire independence, are too stubborn to ask for help, and more importantly, want to to prove that we can do it all ourselves. This poem serves as a reminder that loving parents can never want anything short of the best for their kids. It is a necessary reminder for me as a son, but also one in the future for when I am to be a father of my own. The persistence of a relentless father, who will continue to be there for his kids even if they try to push him away. A simple piece of writing, that holds numerous complex emotions. I noticed that you dedicated the poem to Akua. Who is that in relation to you? I’m assuming one of your children. When did you write this poem and what inspired you to do so? Why did you take the approach you did, to convey your message? Lastly, what is some advice you can give about fatherhood? The lines you wrote have my curiosity peaked and I would love to know more. At a heavy time in my life, this poem provided me with some form of clarity and a brand new perspective that I needed. Thank you for taking the time to read my letter and giving me this opportunity.

Best regards,

Moosa

Dear Moosa,

Thank you for your open and kind letter. I was especially touched that you shared the poem with your father and his interpretation is beautiful and so accurate. In fact, you have fully understood this poem in a way that assures me that you are embracing the path of growth and maturation in a truly promising way.

The poem is dedicated to my daughter, Akua. She is the last of my three children and is an adult now who is a gifted lawyer. She was about your age, I think, when the incident happened, and her first reaction was not offensive to me. We actually chuckled at her pulling away. I think she pulled away because she feared I was making a practical joke. But, as you know, sometimes we are hesitant about embracing the unknown, and that was her first reaction. Eventually, she took a deep whiff and loved the scent of lavender. The writing of the poem was an opportunity for me to put in writing a vow my wife and I have made to our children, and as you have said, it is important for parents to make these vows even when they are difficult. I believe that we learn parenting from our parents, and we learn lessons both from what was not done well and for what was done well. I believe that this poem distills what I have learned about being a father to a few lines and a few concepts. The first is the companionship of parenting. My daughter and I are on a walk together. The second is to offer to them only those things that I have found delightful and that I have tested. Note that I did not offer her my hand without testing the scent first. The third is the commitment to share the good things that I have. The fourth is the promise, despite resistance to persist in vowing to care and to love and to give only good things. Fatherhood is a responsibility. My father sacrificed much for our family. He made mistakes, but the one thing that was always clear to us was that he put his family first, even at the expense of his personal comfort. I have sought to emulate this.

I hope all of this makes some sense. In the end, however, your attention to this poem and this letter have been a delight for me. I wish you great success in life.

Sincerely,

Kwame Dawes

From Olivia, Grade 6

Dear Kwame Dawes,

Hi, my name is Olivia and I am from East Middle School in Plymouth, MI in the 6th grade. I am writing to you about your poem “Purple.” I chose to write to you because I was given an assignment in Language Arts, we got to choose an author to write about their poem. I chose your poem because it hit me differently than any of the other ones, it made me think about a lot of good times.

I never really understood poems, I always thought that they were strange. But as I was reading your poem, I started to realize that poems actually have a lot of meaning in them. I loved your poem a lot because you described things in ways that I would have never thought of. I was trying to find a perfect poem to read and when I saw your poem “Purple” I knew that it was just the one. The lines

“This is the promise I make to you:
I will never give you a fist full of wasps,
just the surprise of purple and the scent of rain.”

reminds me of the time when I made a huge promise to my friend, she was feeling like her best friend was upset at her and didn’t want to be friends anymore and I told her, “I promise you that she will never be mad at you, you are her best friend.” This poem reminded me of that special moment that I will never forget.

I believe that the meaning of this poem is to trust the people you love. When I read the poem, it made me think about how lucky I am that I can trust my family and friends. It also made me think about how much my friends and family can trust me.

Your poem had drawn my attention as no other poem had before. I then realized that your poem showed me love, it showed me kindness, and I had never felt that way before from a poem. I never knew that a poem could be so meaningful, and yours was.

Olivia

Dear Olivia,

Thank you for writing such a thoughtful letter. I read your last paragraph a few times because I was moved by the way you put things: “I then realized that your poem showed me love, it showed me kindness, and I had never felt that way before from a poem.” Any poet would be moved by this statement when it is made in reference to a poem they have written. I will say this, what you felt and what you gleaned from my poem is consistent with what I hoped to convey, first to my daughter, Akua, and then to anyone else who has a chance to read the poem. I am certainly moved and appreciative. You have approached the poem with intelligence, openness and thoughtful consideration. Art moves us because it connects with our experience, and in the end, the work of art is only valuable when it allows us to connect our lives with the work.

Indeed, the poem is about trust. And of course, trust can be quite a difficult thing to cultivate. But, as you observed, there is something liberating about making a vow. My poem is a vow to my daughter and the rest of my children. I wrote the poem describing an incident that did happen, and this memory gave me a chance to renew my vow to always care for my daughter.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this poem and to write about it. The beauty about the poem is that you can always return to it. Perhaps one day you will want to share the sentiment with someone else. The poem could be a splendid way to share the avowal.

Sincerely

Kwame Dawes

Dear Kwame Dawes 2022

Page submenu block

Kwame Dawes reads "Purple"

Newsletter Sign Up