A Quaker Tunity: Poetry reading and races, and Catch-22

Evie Shockley

On Thursday night there was a poetry reading at Westminster College featuring the work of Jay Hopler and Evie Shockley. I really like hearing poets read their work. I don't think I had listened to much poetry read aloud before Bread Loaf this summer. Students and teachers read their work at Blue Sky readings each week, and I loved it. I especially enjoyed listening to the professors read their work (poetry and prose) and discuss their thinking and writing process.

On Thursday the work of Evie Shockley reminded me how key poetry seems in addressing injustice and racism. Poetry has a way of cutting through the nonsense and declaring things as they are. The form offers a license to be succinct and blunt. Shockley read a powerful poem called "Supply and Demand" about how treatment of blacks remains as unjust as it was in previous centuries. I'd like to get it to my students, but I'm not sure which book it was from... I'll have to visit a library and find out.

Our RefEd race team.

On Saturday I got to school at 7:15 to drive some of our students to Kaysville for the Refugee Education race. We had 14 runners participate in this 5K which funds refugee camp education in Chad. It was terrific to participate with students in something outside of class. And several of our students placed in the top three and were awarded medals (the event was pretty small).

I'm reading Catch-22 by Joseph Heller. Perhaps I should say I'm skimming it, because that's what I'm doing at this point. I need to finish it for a book club discussion next sunday and I have 250 pages left. Besides, it's not my cup of tea. The cynicism and jumpiness of the narrative create a style that is discomforting and prickly, which surely is appropriate for a book about the ridiculous contradictions and dead ends of war (and of rational, hierarchical human systems, generally). Some of the writing, though, pleasing at the craft level. Look at the beginning of this paragraph. Look at how sensory details are used to create such a negative perspective on this view of the ocean, something that is typically portrayed as soothing and pastoral. How much this tells us about Yossarian's mental and spiritual state, that this is the way he experiences this view:

Or here, where the character description succeeds in making the reader embarrassed. How dare the narrator give us such an unfavorable and intimate look at someone before he has a chance to speak for himself? All the c's make the paragraph sound harsh, and the narrator seems like the disgruntled, hardened, army slave he is. Why should he do any favors for people like Colonel Cathcart, after what the war and the armed forces have done to him?

What I realize most, though, is that I don't want to have one conversation with a book club about this book once I'm done. I want to discuss this book as I'm reading it. I want to talk about one passage at a time, not a whole 550 page book in one go. And I'm doubtful that a conversation with 12 people can feel substantive. I know I certainly won't be able to talk as much as I want to!

After the race yesterday Mum and I went to work in the garden, putting it to bed a bit. It was great being in there pulling up plants with Mama. Reminded me of when I was very young, like 10 or 12, working in the garden with her, assuming that I'd be the empress of my own gardened paradise one day. That didn't turn out! But I'm lucky enough to walk away from Mom's house with a bouquet of flowers from this bucket, plus some massive carrots to use for soup.

It's been steadily raining all day, which has been quite enjoyable. Time to plan lessons about Angry Men for the week!