Writing the Australian Crawl by William Stafford

This an unassuming book from 1978 - I found it in a box at an estate sale.  It has been sitting on my shelf waiting for me to abandon my ineffective dreams of writing a novel and resume my focus on poetry.  I wrote poetry in college, as well as off and on throughout my years as a stay-at-home mom. I recently jumped headlong back into the practice.


Just this week, at Poemoftheweek.org, I was introduced to poet Carrie Fountain's work.  As I dug a little deeper and read her poems, listened to her interviews and readings, I heard her mention William Stafford's books on "the writer's vocation".  And I thought: a-ha!  I have his two best on my shelf.  I pulled them down, and began reading.

And I was hooked.  Not only did he remind me that poetry is my niche, but he has some thought-provoking ideas about writing: art.

Here are some of my favorites from this work:
p.27 When you write, tell me something.

p.51 The action of writing... is the successive discovery of cumulative epiphanies in the self's encounter with the world.

p.55 ...from the emergency of the encounter emerges the new realization, the now poem.

p.61 A poem is anything said in such a way or put on the page in such a way as to invite from the hearer or reader a certain kind of attention.

p.67 Writing is a reckless encounter with comes along.

p.88 ...writing...is a process of relying on pervasive feelings...

p.112 It seems to me a writer is engaged in adventuring into the language and all sorts of things occur to him or should occur to him, that's his job: the judging of these things, the selection of these things, and conduct in the light of these things, is everybody's job.

p.116-7 I believe that the so-called "writing block" is a product of some kind of disproportion between your standards and your performance.  (He tells us to "lower your standards".)

p.125 The poem was in the way, so I wrote it.

p.157 ...in poetry we were always within a syllable or two of something overwhelming.

It is one of the most empowering and encouraging books on "how to write" I have ever read!

Photo credit: http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41NL9Pe%2BdOL._SX327_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg

Ten Thousand Saints by Eleanor Henderson

This review can also be read in the Canon City Daily Record.
 

Warning ... this book is not for the faint of heart. It is gritty, raw, and honest. There are words and situations that may be triggering and/or offensive to some. Having said this, I highly recommend "Ten Thousand Saints" by Eleanor Henderson, an unconventional coming of age tale not yet told. Nine years in the making, it is thorough, highly detailed and filled with fantastic imagery.

"Ten Thousand Saints" is a no holds barred examination of the straight edge punk scene, 1988, New York. Yet it begins in a small Vermont town with two teenage boys, close friends, brought closer by their sense of loneliness and longing, soothed only by recreational drug use. Jude and Teddy meet Eliza, the daughter of Jude's father's girlfriend, and a New Year's Eve party goes wrong - very wrong. Tragedy strikes leaving Teddy dead from a drug overdose. Jude searches out Teddy's brother, Johnny, in New York City, settles there, and begins to follow a new lifestyle: no drugs, no sex, no alcohol, meat or cigarettes. Young Eliza finds herself tangled and enmeshed in the grieving lives of Jude and Johnny.

Unsentimental, this novel is "West Side Story" meets "Catcher in the Rye." There is intense emotion and fast-paced action, addressing many universal themes and dicey topics. Here children are on the cusp of adulthood, living adult lives and making adult decisions, from only the lessons of childhood. In the face of their parents' mistakes, these teens try to do differently, and, oddly enough, find themselves often in the same boat. History repeats itself, just putting on a new coat for each rising generation.

Ms. Henderson's ability to read and share the thoughts of her characters is masterful. We are drawn to those we meet in these pages. This book explores the fragility of the human soul, regardless of life choices. In these pages, we come face-to-face with AIDS, homelessness, abandonment, homosexuality, drugs, drinking, teen sex, death, adoption, abortion, punk music, friendship, love, parenthood, children's rights, marriage, divorce, religion, fatherhood, motherhood, fetal alcohol syndrome, bullies, and revenge. But don't let that keep you from this story.

I invite you to read with compassion and suspend the judgment our everyday lives seem to demand. Recognize that people who are quite different than us still have the same dilemmas - when is a child an adult, and when is an adult finally grown-up? How does one pull life back into a place of sense when choices are made, often in error, by ourselves or others? Through this tale, we develop a new vocabulary that crosses the lines of comfort and creates empathy.

Photo credit: http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51xfoH0dQmL._SX329_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg
 

Brooklyn by Colm Toibin

My cousin sent me a meme describing the sorrow we feel when a novel ends - when we must give up our relationship with a character and in essence, break-up with them.  We walk away and move forward leaving them as a memory in our past.

It was Brooklyn's Eilis that touched her so deeply.   I was hesitant to introduce myself to this heroine's world as  I was less than enthusiastic about my first experience with Colm Toibin, "Sleep", a story in The New Yorker.  But I trusted my cousin.

... And I loved the story!  It is as if Mr. Toibin follows a young girl from Ireland to Brooklyn, and back again, and merely puts to paper what he sees and hears.  There is no narrator "guessing" as to what is in the heroine's head - the author sees how she changes within a situation and, with simplicity, reports it to the reader.  Such a style creates a true intimacy that is not often felt with a character.  Often we are forced to connect with plot alone, but here?  Here we become closer to Eilis than many we feel connected to in our own lives.

This is a love story - of family, of land, of a man and a woman, of faith, of life...  And I will admit there were times I was frustrated with Eilis and her decisions, her actions, and her silences.  I was held in her grip until the last sentence.

Photo credit:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brooklyn_%28novel%29