a letter i recently wrote to gary snyder
hello sir, my name is michael franklin. i don't really know how to address you. sir? mr. snyder? gary? no, i do believe sir is best, informal yet respectful. at any rate, sir, i am writing you this short message to say thank you.
i know you have gotten these messages hundreds. possibly thousands of times, but really now, who can resist a little more gratitude?
i live, currently in portland oregon. and i recently read at your alma matter (sp), reed college. i host a poetry reading in portland every week at a local bar, and i also have started to print my own books as well as those of my friends. the press is called, sticks and stones, and i would presume to say that is is inspired by city lights circa 1950's.
it feels truly good to contribute.
at any rate, back to the thanking, it is, for god's sake, nearly thanksgiving, and i have to say thank you to someone, may as well be to a person whom i have great respect for and can show true gratitude towards.
so it says, thank you for your endless contributions to an art that is not an easy art to maintain. thank you for years of personal hardships that get invariatably trivialized by your associates as being poetic justices. there is no justice in an injustice of life, no matter if it is done to or by a poet. thank you for watching your comrades drop like children in a war that is not ever called a war, still they are considered casualties of their time, or their era, or their lifestyle, but never does the world consider the battles poets fight daily to be warlike, god no, wars have bombs, wars have money, poets tend to have neither, at least not much of either.
thank you for credentialising a field that can be easily scoffed at. you are a shining example of dream reaching. if i had wealthy parents, i would tell them to look to you as a reason to pay for my schooling to be a poet, however, my parents are not rich and i also do not need to defend my self to them, they are very supportive in what i do as long as it is legal. another sidenote, i am not a student. further note, i am banned from being on campus at reed college, yet they still pay me to come and read poetry to their students, only i can't go their for lunch when a friend offers to buy me a salad at the cafeteria. oh well, poetic justice?
at any rate sir, thank you, and i hope that one day, if you make it back to the city of seven bridges, we can eat together and laugh about something, or someone or better even, nothing. just two ugly poets laughing at beauty over a table of food and wine.
your admirerer,
michael franklin
portland, or
24 years old
503 866 7138
i know you have gotten these messages hundreds. possibly thousands of times, but really now, who can resist a little more gratitude?
i live, currently in portland oregon. and i recently read at your alma matter (sp), reed college. i host a poetry reading in portland every week at a local bar, and i also have started to print my own books as well as those of my friends. the press is called, sticks and stones, and i would presume to say that is is inspired by city lights circa 1950's.
it feels truly good to contribute.
at any rate, back to the thanking, it is, for god's sake, nearly thanksgiving, and i have to say thank you to someone, may as well be to a person whom i have great respect for and can show true gratitude towards.
so it says, thank you for your endless contributions to an art that is not an easy art to maintain. thank you for years of personal hardships that get invariatably trivialized by your associates as being poetic justices. there is no justice in an injustice of life, no matter if it is done to or by a poet. thank you for watching your comrades drop like children in a war that is not ever called a war, still they are considered casualties of their time, or their era, or their lifestyle, but never does the world consider the battles poets fight daily to be warlike, god no, wars have bombs, wars have money, poets tend to have neither, at least not much of either.
thank you for credentialising a field that can be easily scoffed at. you are a shining example of dream reaching. if i had wealthy parents, i would tell them to look to you as a reason to pay for my schooling to be a poet, however, my parents are not rich and i also do not need to defend my self to them, they are very supportive in what i do as long as it is legal. another sidenote, i am not a student. further note, i am banned from being on campus at reed college, yet they still pay me to come and read poetry to their students, only i can't go their for lunch when a friend offers to buy me a salad at the cafeteria. oh well, poetic justice?
at any rate sir, thank you, and i hope that one day, if you make it back to the city of seven bridges, we can eat together and laugh about something, or someone or better even, nothing. just two ugly poets laughing at beauty over a table of food and wine.
your admirerer,
michael franklin
portland, or
24 years old
503 866 7138