| |
This notebook supplements my poetry
chapbook with some
of my other writing, along with lists and links arising from my
love of literature. It also contains remnants of my original website
devoted to distance running and my related interest in cycling. As in a diary or
a journal, there is no particular order to anything
here. An Essay, a Short Story and a Libretto
- In January of 2009, the editor of Our Lives magazine asked me to write a
short memoir. My article,
originally titled Getting There,
appeared in the
July/August issue as
Pride in Progress.
- I wrote War of Attrition in 1996 in response to a call for very
brief
stories. It appeared in
Tasty Morsels: an Anthology of Short-Short Fiction by Lonesome
Traveller Publishing.
- Borders is
the libretto for a very brief piece of musical theater. It was written
in 1997, but has not been set to music.
Reading List for 2009
Here's a list of books I read in 2009. Some, like the
first two Stevenson mysteries, I've read before. Some are small collections of
poetry; the work of
Nathaniel Bellows stands out as especially well-crafted. Some are favorite authors, like
HG Wells and CP Cavafy.
- Third Man Out 末 Stevenson
- Why Speak? 末 Bellows
- The Art of Drowning 末 Collins
- The Invisible Man 末 Wells
- Collected Poems of CP Cavafy
末
Translated by Keeley and Sherrard
- All You Who Sleep Tonight 末 Seth
- The Mayor of Castro Street 末 Shilts
- Everything Happens Twice 末
Robillard
- A Secret Edge 末 Reardon
- The Time Machine 末 Wells
- The Unfinished Poems of CP Cavafy
末
Translated by Mendelsohn
- Chain of Fools 末 Stevenson
- Cannery Row 末 Steinbeck
- A Fine and Private Place 末 Beagle
- Death Vows 末 Stevenson
- Liver 末 Webb
- Mapping the Territory 末 Bram
- Out of the Pocket 末 Konigsberg
- The Loneliness of the Long-distance
Runner 末 Sillitoe
- Einstein's Dreams 末 Lightman
- David Inside Out 末 Bantle
- Earthly 末 McFee
- I, Toto: the Autobiography of Terry,
the Dog Who Was Toto 末 Carroll
- The City and the Pillar 末 Vidal
Links to a Few Favorite Poems
Distance Running in Literature
Novels and short stories have celebrated
distance running from various perspectives. In
Alan Sillitoe's story,
The Loneliness of the Long-distance Runner, the sport represents
freedom and an opportunity for meditation. "As soon as I take that first
flying leap out into the frosty grass of an early morning when even
birds haven't the heart to whistle," the narrator tells us, "I get into
thinking, and that's what I like." He continues: "It's a treat, being a long-distance
runner, out in the world by yourself with not a soul to make you
bad-tempered or tell you what to do."
In
Patricia Nell Warren's novel,
The Front Runner, a coach sees his athlete as a body in perfect motion. "What impressed me most,"
he observes, "was the effortlessness. His long, floating stride
had an eerie, slow-motion quality. He just ghosted along. And he had a
very light, soft stride末now that he was alone, I could scarcely hear
his spikes stir the cinders as he went past. He had the most beautiful
natural form I had ever seen末no wasted effort anywhere. He was almost
unreal. He was that idea of a runner that haunts the minds of track
people."
Several famous poets, too, have written about running末often with similar themes. Among the best-known are
The
Runner by Walt Whitman,
Run Before Dawn
by William Stafford,
and A. E. Housman's
The time you won your town the
race.
Running and Cycling Links
|
|
