Río Caliente

Dear Bill,

I was going to say that this letter is difficult to write, but then you would wonder why I am writing it, so I will not make it easy for me by saying that it is difficult, but simply go ahead, if I can. Even as I write to you now, I sense you not only as the reader of this letter, I sense you eavesdropping on me as I write it. I know that you are weary of being told that you intimidate the very people whom you encourage, and I know that you can tell yourself that whatever you did for me in commenting on my writing was for my good, but I felt caught in some circularity in which you could do no wrong, even your mistaken comments could be useful, if only as obstacles that would strengthen me if I could overcome them, as I tried to explain to you what I had meant, but I can’t help thinking that you were often too interested in staking out some position for yourself beyond criticism or retaliation, that you have often been more interested in the rightness of your p…