Letter to Cathy Park Hong

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    Dear Mrs. Hong!

    You most likely don't know who I am, but I am a huge fan of your writing!

    I am a senior in high school and I've encountered your pieces multiple different times, both as an assignment and through my free time.

    The first time I came across your writing was when we were assigned The Indebted from your book Minor Feelings, which has become a huge part of my philosophy as I become more involved in literature and the history of my ancestors.

    In AP Literature we were asked to choose a poem as our mentor poem to further develop our writers voice, and the first poem that came to mind was your poem "Zoo", which I was able to connect to as a South Asian in America with immigrant parents. The depth and somewhat obscurity at the beginning of the poem regarding the symbolism of the zoo interested me in finding a new way to deliver my ideas through symbolism.

    Through my own practice, I've attempted to write a couple of lines of poetry that showcased my feelings after reading The Indebted.

I saw the wanting spirit of my ancestors destroyed,
How they mourned gratification.
A gratification that is missing. A gratification only given by their own,
but not found in gratification.

    This was my first time writing poetry, so I hope it wasn't too basic and carried some depth to it like your writing.

    From what I found in Zoo, I was drawn to the structure of the poem, and how even the structure of the piece provides importance to your message. If I were to start writing more poetry, I would try to engage in providing a structure for my poem that strengthens its meaning.

    As someone who was initially drawn in by your book Minor feelings, my interest in your verses opened me up to the world of poetry, something I overlooked before.

Thank you for inspiring a new type of creativity and emotion in me,

Shambhavi

 

   

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