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Dear Don,<\/p>\n
Diane and I both appreciated your note. I have Jane has our sympathy in her apprehension about But we press on \u2013 like the people of Frost\u2019s poem I enclose a freshly typed version of the \u201cThugs\u201d I also sent along a slightly revised version but I have been sitting on the first version for some Please tell Joey, then, that it\u2019s ok to send And thank you, as usual, for your help.<\/p>\n Love,<\/p>\n Wes<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n A note from McNair about this letter:<\/span>\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>The revision of “Where I Live” involved changing one line break and two lines — from “beyond the last colonial\/ gas station and unsolved by zoning\/ is a road” to “beyond the last colonial gas station\/ and unsolved by zoning\/ is a road” — which responded to Don’s earlier questions, while keeping faith with the flow and meaning of the poem. Though place becomes a metaphor in “Where I Live,” the poem’s situation derives from my daily commute home from the college town of New London, New Hampshire, with its restored colonial homes, to my unvarnished location of North Sutton.<\/p>\n Read Where I Live <\/span><\/a><\/strong>(published version)<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
\nfrom time to time during this period thought about your
\npoem to your father. I imagine I will be writing about
\nmy father-in-law, too. His life feels so small to
\nme now, and so unsung.<\/span> I want to change that,
\nif I can.<\/p>\n
\nher father. We have known that feeling, too, and
\nit\u2019s a difficult one to deal with.<\/p>\n
\nwho \u201cturned to their affairs.\u201d There\u2019s no other way.<\/p>\n
\npoem, in case you would prefer it that way,
\nrather than in mimeographed form, as you have it
\nnow. Suit yourself, and if Joey has already
\nsent the poem out, fine.<\/p>\n
\nof \u201cWhere I Live.\u201d True, it has only been a
\ncouple of weeks since I sent you the first version,<\/p>\n
\ntime already, and I\u2019m therefore as sure as I\u2019m
\nlikely to be that the poem is ready in its present
\nform. Incidentally, I, too, worried about that
\nline-break you mentioned and played with it a great deal.
\nYour comment gave me the courage to make the
\nchange of the enclosed. I do feel, though, that
\nthere shouldn\u2019t be a comma after \u201cgas station.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nout \u201cWhere I Live\u201d and \u201cTrees That Pass Us.\u201d<\/p>\n
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