"Dear Thrasher..."

The "Thrasher" Sestina (written in a persona style based on a letter to the editor of Thrasher skateboarding magazine, "Mail Drop" section, May 2003) has sort of a life of its own on the internet. As a result of the emails I've gotten about it, I'm going to post the original letter as well, which is WAY better than my poem.
In McSweeney's Online I believe I had the date of the original publication of the letter wrong (I had it as April 2003 instead of May.) I got an email in summer 2007 from a guy who said that he and his girlfriend loved the poem so much that he ordered a back-issue of Thrasher for the letter. He was going to have the letter framed for her as a joke, but then when it arrived, the letter wasn't there! I felt terrible, so I tracked down the issue. Whew. I was glad to see that I hadn't made up as much as I feared, though of course it's an adaptation. The response from the editors is the best. At the bottom of the page, you'll see the evolving and strange life of this sestina on the web.

Printed in the "Mail Drop" section of Thrasher, May 2003:
I would like to say that your mag rips and you're one of the reasons I started to skateboard. I was disappointed to see that Sketchers ad in the August issue, but I understand that you have to do those kinda things sometimes; it musst suck. My main issue is with this skater band shit. When I'm hanging with some friends of mine that don't even skate they will listen to the music I'm playing and say, "That's not a skate band." I always tell them that there is no such thing to me. When I started skating I didn't do it because it was cool, like 50 percent of young skaters today. I do it because it's fun and I can express myself and be an individual. Listen to what the hell you want to listen to. I listen to Fugazi and various rappers. I even listen to a little POD, but let me say that pussy-ass band Sum 41 sucks a dick. Anyway, it doesn't matter what you listen to as long as you keep it real and be an individual. While on the subject of how sorry skating is becoming, I don't know if it's only the skaters in Georgi a, but why do so many male skaters rape their girlfriends? I am a female skater and at the park I like to go to, every now and then you'll hear that some skater's girlfriend got raped in the crapper. The girls go in thinking they're going to make out but they get raped. That's sad, and anyone who has raped somebody should go to jail. I'm only 12 and I can assure you I'm not gonna put up with that shit when I get a boyfriend. The reason I'm writing this letter is because I'm grounded and can't go out to skate. Keep it real, don't rape people, and hang loose. I love you Thrasher and when I move out of the house and I turn 18 count me in for the Down for Life department.

xxxxx xxxxxx,
Atlanta, Georgia

You should be president. T-ed