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Mary Van Pelt's avatar

August 6, 2023

Andi,

Congratulations on your well-crafted poem “Shootin’ Pool” and publication in Kelsay Books Blog. I printed a copy so I could read carefully, pencil notes, and learn from your well-crafted lines and word choices. I know a few pool terms but learned more when I looked up words—strong images that speak of chalk, shooting stripes and solids, gun violence, and sudden death. Although I’ve heard and read explanations about the sestina form, a person would need a class to work through the intricacies and complexities. I appreciate how your poem developed over the years, was set aside, was rejected a few times, was once printed with line-break errors [horrors!] …and now the grand arrival of ACCEPTANCE!

Mary Van Pelt

Alamosa, CO

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Andi Penner's avatar

Thank you, Mary. I appreciate your dedication to close reading and your attention to detail. I must credit my son for the "pool" jargon--not only the words, but the lessons in pool rules. He played pool in New Orleans' bars, I'm guessing from the time he entered Tulane at age 17. I don't remember if he and I ever played there, but if we did, he won.

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Amanda McQuade's avatar

Thank you for honoring the person, the community, our world.

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Jessica Garruto's avatar

Wow, awesome work! Such a sad origin to your creative flow...

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Andi Penner's avatar

I linked the article in the post today, but also adding the link here for those who may not have seen it. https://usgunviolence.wordpress.com/2013/03/04/killed-kendall-williams-new-orleans-la/

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