Monthly Archives: March 2007

Poetry: “Late Wife” by Claudia Emerson

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Since most books of poetry are so slim, and can sometimes take a few readings to really absorb all the imagery, I read them a few times over a week or so, before I actually consider them “read.”

These poems span the gap between a relationship falling apart/ending up in divorce, and a new relationship beginning/moving in together. They are calm and point blank; the honesty of hindsight. They are sparse and stripped, as one’s emotions would be. Not outwardly exclamatory or emotional, but quite powerful nonetheless.

Stories: “Black Juice” by Margo Lanagan.

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Short stories by an Aussie but sent to me by Marrije since I couldn’t find it when I went to Oz.

Some of the most unusual stories I’ve ever read; one is first-person narrative from the viewpoint of an elephant! All take place in one of those “kinda middle ages/or medieval” fantasy worlds but seem more real than sci fi/fantasy. Reminded me a little of Aimee Bender and how her stories can seem perfectly normal with one random fantastical element (the dude’s head is an iron! or, her potatoes grow into babies!).

Really loved these.

Advice of the Day

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(In a car driven by his (drunk) father, with police cars approaching:)

“On these occasions, my father always kept packets of peanuts scattered about the front seat. He once told me conspiratorially that peanuts mask booze breath better than peppermint gum. That there is knowledge, if you ask me.”

–Hollis Gillespie “Meteor City, Population 2” Paste 28.

Friday Night Lights Soundtrack

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So as you may have assumed I would, I’ve purchased a lot of the songs that have been played on my favorite show. Last night, I submitted my playlist to iTunes as an iMix. So you can buy them now too if you’d like without searching for them separately.

(When you click on the link, give it a minute, it connects to apple & then it will automatically open your iTunes and take you to the iMix in the store.)

Not the Same. But Reminiscent.

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In the (beautiful, btw) song “Waterfall” by Griffin House, there is a moment when he sings “Hold on to your love, it might not be coming back…” that …SOUNDS so much LIKE… when Sarah McLachlan sings “It’s a long way down, to the place where we started from” in “Ice Cream.”

Something about the downward progression of the melody and the timing/rhythm of it is just sooooo similar.

Wow, I don’t think I’ve listened to Sarah in a year or two. Definitely took a while (and some serious Pod investigating) to figure out what song I was humming…

Keys Without Doors.

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The seat had been moulded to the contours of another body and it felt strange underneath him. The key was in the ignition with a metal loop hanging from it from which depended in turn three other keys to doors he would never go through.

–from “The Quarry” by Damon Galgut.

I really like the image of keys that open doors that he will never go through; keys that will never again be used. Do keys with no doors (a.k.a. “purpose”) cease to be “keys” and become something else?

Fiction: “The Quarry” by Damon Galgut

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Africa. Summer. A murder, a fire, a circus. Dark and brooding. Slim, concise. Lots of solitude and alone-ness, some chosen, some not. Identities stolen, crimes misattributed, things concealed, things admitted. Some longer chapters broken up by many short and choppy others. Lots of dust and heat and listlessness.

Sometimes confusing pronoun usage (purposely I think). Often left to the reader’s interpretation which he “he” is. At one point, something happened to a “he” that, I thought, had to be one of three certain “he” people. Yet if I interpreted later chapters correctly, it couldn’t have been any of those three it happened to. So to whom? (And at one point, the book said “Ho” when I’m pretty sure it meant “He”. Otherwise, one of the “he” characters was named “Ho” but, if you ignore that, we don’t ever find out that particular dude’s name (we do know the others) and pretty sure we’re not meant to so I think it must have been a misprint.)

Had read a previous Galgut “The Good Doctor” from the Booker short list a few years back and if you search this page for “Galgut” you can see my brief comments.