March 11, 2016
Dear Poet,
After reading this piece, I feel that you are the kind of person who would understand what its like to be overwhelmed by the very act of being. It’s not uncommon for me to feel— even when surrounded by friends and family— that I am alone in my thoughts much like the narrator of your poem, Three Foxes by the Edge of the Field at Twilight.
From my understanding, this piece is about two people strolling through a calm wilderness and stumbling upon three foxes. They watch the dogs as one trots about, one fidgets and one just observes. They’re seemingly aimless in their movement yet seem intent on being free-spirited and at peace with their environment. As the narrator draws too close, the animals get frightened and retreat back into the forest, “as if they had never been.”
The narrator— feeling suddenly lonely— describes how she wishes she could be as free as the foxes. Then, she talks about how, “there is more and more [she can] tell to no one,” and how these things that she cannot speak about, like the foxes, retreat back into her heart, “as if [they] had never been.”
But, even after the foxes have disappeared into the trees, she can still feel them looking back at her, and she feels that they understand her desire to be uncontained and open about everything just as they are.
I choose this poem because I too have found myself lost in the depths of introspection while in nature. Carrying a desert tortoise across the street or climbing a live oak trees or laying on the deck of a boat in the BVI’s, looking into the dark, I have become rather existential.
Life can be complicated, but somehow, escaping into nature has always helped me to get in touch with my feelings.
I grew up in two largely touristic cities: Las Vegas and Miami. Being from New York, have you ever felt burdened by the busyness and artificiality of the city?
Are you the narrator in this piece, and if so, were you alone on your walk through the field?
I look forward to hearing from you.
All the best,
Chasity Hale
Grade 11
Miami Beach, Florida