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Dear Poet Letter

Dear Allen Ginsberg,

    For a school project, a group and I had to find a poem, annotate it in 9 different ways, and present our findings to class. My group chose your poem, A Supermarket in California. While this letter comes from a school assignment, I truly did find immense beauty in the way the message was delivered.
    What stood out to me was the journey, the journey that both you and Walt Whitman somewhat took. In your mind, you went from the streets of California, to the superficial supermarket, to the “black waters of Lethe”. Yet at the same time, in the physical world, you start and end at the same place. I loved that. I loved the way you changed the way a typical “journey” is supposed to be, and used that to further emphasize your message. It was brilliant.
    I would also like to take the time to ask a few questions. Your poem feels like a train of thought. It's a free meter and it has no rhyme scheme, so I would like to ask, how did you write this poem? Did you write it as it came to your mind? Or did you carefully choose every single word over a course of time?
    Beyond these questions, I would like to take a moment to say thanks. From your poem, I found a genuine appreciation for poetry I never knew I had. The way you were able to put the feelings of longing and disillusionment into words was magnificent.

From,

Austin Xiao

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