Re: BANANAFISH digest 104
Tim O'Connor (tim@roughdraft.org)
Mon, 22 Sep 1997 21:57:46 +0500
>i was on a road trip a while back with some of my friends who i hadn't
>seen in a long time. five minutes on the road, and they turned on the
>radio - the conversation immediately stopped. i asked 'em if we could
>try something else and pulled out my trusty complete works (which i
>always have with me - probably explains the bad back) and we all started
>reading our favorite stuff to each and taking about why it was
>significant to us. then everybody else started pulling their trusty
>faves out and we spend the next several hours sharing poetry and prose,
>even some of our own. it was a wonderful trip, and i'm so glad we didn't
>that little time we had listening to whatever we could find on the
>strongest top 40 station out in the country.
This is terrific. One of my close friends, for years, had an elderly
poetry anthology in his car door, next to his Rand-McNally road atlas, and
sometimes he would just pull over to the side of the road and pick the book
up and read a poem, then nod to himself and put it back in the door and
resume driving. (This with me in the passenger seat!) I thought it loony
but perfect for him, exactly right for the way he approached the world.
At other times -- if we were on a long road trip, for instance -- he used
to toss me a copy of Thoreau and ask me to pick something out at random and
read it to him. (We were both fiends for Thoreau.)
OK, well, this isn't exactly "On the Road" material, but some of us have
had quieter lives. 8-)
Anyway, I say three cheers for anyone who does an impromptu in-the-car
reading of whatever you love to read out loud!
--tim o'connor