Dear Pedro,
I am writing you another letter because I haven’t got much else to do. I didn’t go skiing today because of the rain and the warm weather. (I can’t bear to see the mountain in this state!) So I have just been hanging out all day, reading that Janis Joplin book and listening to music.
Because I have hardly moved today I thought that I ought to go for a walk around the meadows. I took my ipod and you know what those kinds of actions can lead to… they only ever lead to thought. As I rounded the first bend Neil Young’s “Damage Done” played, then some Old Crow Medicine Show song came on and I cannot remember which one, then a moe. song off of the album “The Conch” (I don’t know the name of the song). And suddenly it occurred to me… the reason why parents dread the day their kids come home in tie-dye and hemp. It isn’t an irrational fear of drugs and not being accepted as a normal or intelligent person. This whole being a hippie thing gets really sad after a few years. They know what will happen; they can see the things that we couldn’t when we dove headfirst into this at the age of maybe ten or eleven
Of course I wouldn’t change anything. This life, death, love, sadness, happiness, experimentation and trouble are things that I freely accept. Besides, I don’t know any other way to live my life. I have never been able to change who I am.
And while we are on that subject, I’d like to point out that despite what people frequently argue, when know what being a hippie really is and that it has nothing to do with what year you live in! It isn’t about fashion; it isn’t about politics; it isn’t about drugs at all. It only has to do with letting your soul explode out of your body.
Which is also the very cause of the sadness. We live a life in which we meet all sorts of people who are letting their souls explode… they often let it burn out to quickly or let the detonation kill them all in the name of trying to truly attain life.
And I think it works.
It is so sad when it fizzles though and we have to watch it. You may have years yet before it takes full effect. At your age I was just catching the first glimpses, beginning to see what was to come. But I am old now, at the age of twenty.
I think that we have to go and do something big together and we have to do it soon. We have to change things; I don’t know what and I don’t know how… You know as well as I do, though, that we possess the powers to accomplish it. Let’s explode.
Love you more than any friend (lol)
Or sister (haha)
Or telepathic person
Or chick called Pedro
Or exploding hippie
Love,
Horse
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So. I really like this. The very first where you make it clear that this is a letter to someone else reminded me of one of my favorite Leonard Cohen songs; Famous Blue Raincoat. There’s something about that first line that really sets the mood for this.
One of the things that I thought hurt this a little bit was how you start your third paragraph with “And while we’re on the subject.” I didn’t like that too much. It seems like you start the two paragraphs before it with something a little more serious; I like how you get into particulars during the paragraphs; what you’re reading, listening to. It just seems like you start that first paragraph with the language you use in the middle to me. It just seems like this paragraph is framed a little different. Maybe something likee, “Another thing that I wanted to say to you.” Just my opinion.
“I am old now, at the age of 20.” I like the point you’re making here, but I think you could word it a little differently. Something like, “I am old now; it’s been 20 years and I’m tired.”
I was hoping for a bigger finish at the end. It’s not bad, but I would have like more of a reslotion or finality to it.
Overall, great job. Keep it up.
Thought provoking piece. Probably about letting life slip through your fingers. I think it is worse for goths somehow. All that dying and crimping really takes it out of your hair. A sagging posterier don’t look to appealing in leggings.
Fads and fashions are the province of the young. However the internal life of a person tends to become richer as they age. We shouldn’t worry to much about the external trappings but feel the inner quality. Nice touch about the soul exploding and the neil young.
i don’t understand this piece and that’s why i love it. i read it as a letter to moi, i used to be known as a pedro, and it hit me with every line. i really enjoyed this format, i’ll attempt to create my own un-letters sometime. so many pages of unsent letters in notebooks, beautiful construction, it’s as if you planted a garden for only yourself, no peeking neighbors to give you kudos.
So, this is up for review and I don’t want to feel the need to hold myself back. So my first thought is—how do you know that you can’t change yourself when you’re still so young? Now, please let me say that I am not trying to be condescending or belittling. I only say this because I, myself am 33 and I know that change can come at anytime. The hippie ideal is something explained in a vaguely new way. I did like that. But a lot of the things you are putting forth seem to be more of an expression of a phase in everyone’s life and not just that of a “hippie”. Anyway, I hope this doesn’t come across as harshly as it sounds to me.
Most totally excellent! This is an awesome look into the psyche of the hippie. My parents were also quite surprised when I came home one day dressed in tie-dye, although I think my sister was more embarrassed than they were. Exploding souls is the perfect way to explain way hippies are so different than everyone else. thank you for posting this letter, it was a wonderful read.
This letter is unusual becsuse its tones are both sad AND hopeful; it’s not a combination I see often. You’re a good writer, but you have a grammatical error: “then a moe.” What do you mean by that?
Your introspection seems mature, wise beyond your years, but it gets sadder when your reader learns that you feel this consumed and tired at the young age of 20. I’d change the ending because it doesn’t have that steady feeling of introspection. It ends on a tone that feels light hearted and childish – a very sharp and unexpected contrast to the rest.
This is a very cool, insightful piece. I’m not sure what I expected from the title, but I can assure you that tenderness and compassion were far from the top of the list of subject matter. Aside from a few annoying typos, this is a very well written piece.
You seem “older” than you should be, giving a mentor-type reassurance to your letter. You show Pedro how to feel good about himself with your confidence. Proofreading looks good.
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