to Wendy Xu

Dear Miss Xu,

I chose you as my mentor poet in my 12AP English class to analyze your poems and write my own influenced by your works. I felt an undercurrent of frustration running through some of your lines and wanted to explore further. I was especially drawn to your skirts in and out of abstract descriptions such as “Feeling like a knife slipping into a pool of water for bearing disagreement” amidst lines of commonly held emotions. Do you feel like it’s easier to describe your feelings in these ambiguous methods, translating vivid scenes playing out into personal emotions? 

You often write to a “you” in your poems (such as in “Several Altitudes of Not Talking”). Do you write a lot of your poems with specific people in mind, one specific person as the target of many of your poems, or do you see “you” as just a figure that can change according to various interpretations? 

I’ve also wondered what you felt the relationship between your poems and their titles is like. While some poems like “Terpsichore” (another poem I worked on in class and liked) make the connection between title and poem very clear, your poems like “The News” keep the connection vague. My interpretation of this poem specifically was that you were criticizing the rapid urban growth and mourning your snuffed connection with nature. The title seems to contrast your unnoticed loneliness to the highly observed news.

Thank you so much for your time. I really love your poetry and can’t wait until THE PAST is out! Here’s the poem I wrote with your influence.    

temptations of a moth

(will update if I get a response)