McNair to Hall: August 12, 1983 (misdated 12/7/83)

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12/7/83 [letter is misdated, should be 8/12/83] Dear Don– Thanks for the straight talk about the poem–even though in this particular case, it hurts. I find that I (stupidly enough) forgot to mention my pleasure at seeing your poem in the Atlantic. Always liked that one! Will hang onto “The Faith Healer” until the end of the summer & then have another go at it for new submissions. Best, Wes

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A note from McNair about this letter: In the opening paragraph I refer to Don’s “straight talk” about “The Faith Healer.” His criticism hurt because in that poem, I felt I had found a way to deal with a father’s violence toward a son, violence that I knew from my relationship with my stepfather. As it turned out, this poem opened the way to my later poetry about that violence.