When the Noise of the World Has Grown Too Loud

Dear Mary,

I am a poet, a retired high school English teacher, and oddly, a rock and roll DJ on the internet.  I have taught with your poems, used them as an inspiration for my own writing, and retreated to them again and again when the noise of the world around me has grown too loud.  What I have always loved the most about your work is how elegant it is, how there's not a word out of place--and at the same time, how clearly and exactly it communicates.  Even students of mine who had trouble with the whole idea of poetry often loved your writing.  I often turn to it when I come home from my (admittedly beloved) radio station with electric guitars jangling in my head.  It's like being able to open the window and hear the creek moving outside.  I wish you that healing sound, and a speedy recovery.

Christine Potter