April 22, 2016
Dear Alicia Ostriker,
When I first read this poem my understanding was shallow, however I found a keen interest in the topic of playing with a dog on the beach. My family and I had just adopted a two month old puppy from a high kill shelter down South, and I look forward to having exciting adventures as depicted in your poem with my beautiful boxer mix, Kona Petunia. However, after fantasizing about the future, I reread your poem with greater understanding and depth.
The first stanza completely blew my mind. This world we live in has very little innocence as it stands today, but if we capture the little moments of pure joy and perfection, we can be completely happy. Life is a collection of short images; your poetry portrayed a beautiful one out of the millions that happen each day. I appreciate you sharing this beauty with the rest of our struggling world. I happened to read this poem again on a terrible day and it gave a positive spin to the rough morning. The only question I have for you is if you have a dog and experienced this joy yourself, or if it is an image handed down to you? I hope you had the pleasure of experiencing this because you have instilled the imagery into my heart.
Sincerely, your admirer,
Jesse
High School
Bethlehem, PA