Walker could do that to you, set the truth so close to the lie that they leaned into each other – forming an arch that only he could squeeze through. And when his voice slipped into a pleading moan, the arch became a doorway, slung open to the world and the truth was only as real as those who heard it wanted it to be. They could make their own truths – slip out of the mills or mines or fields on Walker’s shoulders, grinning and tapping their toes the whole time.
So, back now from two weeks in St. Louis, on the banks of the muddy Mississippi. Running beside the arch and along the river, past the tourist paddleboats. An earthy, loamy, Midwestern smell.
Back to the office now, only to find Grooveshark gone... Like Ohio. The playlists only memories now.
Random thoughts, in lieu of a full post:
- I finished Gilead on the plane out to STL. It was beautiful in its way, and complex and quiet. With lots of digression on theology, which was interesting enough. I didn't feel like I truly got to understand the narrator - and large swaths felt unnecessarily trite. A bit like Kundera's Unbearable Lightness... But there were elements that I liked. The narrator's relationship with his father - the trip they took to find the narrator's grandfather's grave.. and the voice.
- Now reading All the Light We Cannot See. Back in Paris (and St. Malo! Lovely St. Malo) in the midst of WWII. The pages turn easily and there's a subtle building that is well-handled.
- I like to read the Russians in the winter. Tolstoy's Death of Ivan Illych & Other Stories (P&V translation, of course) was perfect. And someday I'll tell the story of how Crime & Punishment made me a literature major..
- A month of baseball has passed and I'm finally going to my first game tomorrow.. the Reds are treading water - but are a much better team than they've let on.
- Off to sunny San Diego next week. Then San Fran in early June. Time, time, time - see what's become of me.
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