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February 24, 2009

clusterflock book club

I wanted to move Lucy’s wonderful work with the first clusterflock book club back to the top of the page. All the favorite quotes yesterday knocked it quickly off. I know the intention was to offer the live audio chat as the first version of the conversation, and Lucy has done a remarkable job with editing and presenting the event.

The next step was to offer the comments as a way to talk about Daryl’s book.

Cindy did a wonderful job in comments of providing some context:

I stole some time at work and listened to this delightful conversation. I missed much of it due to bad sound on my end, but what I heard does my soul good. Thank you, dear Lucy, for doing this.

I can fill in some blanks. The group discussed how the book seems to be “all at once,” with a kind of organic wholeness to it. In fact, the pieces were written over a span of 30 years. The oldest is “Down the Rivers of the Windfall Light,” which was written in 1979 or 1980; prior to that, Daryl had written line poetry exclusively. I don’t have the book with me so am not sure which is the most recent piece–I’ll let you know.

Rick, yes, Daryl wrote the found poem in “Inscription.” I think the poem -– and the woman’s finding of it–illustrates our interconnectedness through storytelling. While some people can never “get it,” others will –- even if after we’re gone.

As to the place in “Prairie Shapes,” I think the place is what shapes the story. It has a certain control over the people (I recall Daryl saying it was like a door with a lower than standard header that knocks people out again and again). And the cave strikes me as overtly vaginal. I need to read the piece again, though, to hone my perceptions (I re-read all but “Prairie Shapes” when the book came out–but PS knocked the wind out of me the first time I read it.)

I was really interested to hear that similar language and imagery is used in various stories. This is something I’d never picked up on, but it makes perfect sense. One of Daryl’s earliest memories is of lying in his crib, looking at blue sky through a window. He says he remembers feeling like he was falling up. So it is no wonder that this imagery, along with the high ice clouds, appears again and again.

I’d originally intended to keep my private knowledge to myself and simply participate as just another reader, and if y’all would prefer that I not share details such as this (or prefer that I not participate at all), just say so. This whole thing is strange and wonderful. For all of these years, Daryl and I discussed his stories pretty much in isolation. It’s grand to hear the views of others.

Feel free to join the conversation.

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