The day went as planned, pretty much. It began with my picking up some books and heading over to the Palmer Senior Center for my participation in the Palmer Senior Reading group. We were to discuss Little Britches, a book by Ralph Moody written about a young boy’s coming of age in 1909.

I thought this was a good book. I didn’t feel as though the group did parts of it justice, most noticeably the author’s interactions, which are his successes and failures: learning to ride and train ranch horses.

Rainbow on Moose Creek log bridge

He rode one horse, his horse, Fanny, over a railroad road trestle during a storm and the horse fell through, shattering her leg. The author was tossed into the flooding creek.

This, of course, brought back memories of Mr. Siggi. I am never going to forget what happened to him; never, never, never. And this brought it all back to me. I could not explain my response to this particular chapter to them, so I let it go.

Interesting, in graduate school, the students were no more astute than this group. I used to read the assigned books, sometimes several were assigned by multiple teachers.

I do remember when one student who shall go nameless told me before going to class that he hadn’t read the book. I had read the book. It was very slow going, and of course now I realize that the author really didn’t care if graduate students like me read his book. He simply threw words on the page and called it good.

This student said about Gravity’s Rainbow, “Well, you know, it comes together in a V.” Everyone owwed and ahhed, except me. I thought, but did not say, that I did not get what he was saying. I did not recall whether Pychon’s book “V” came out before or after Gravity’s Rainbow.

I just looked it up. It came out before, so I have to consider this student’s remark an obscure reference.

I remember too that in another Post WW II class that this same student noted that near their conclusion, that several books contained vortexes, this including Ken Kesy’s Sailor’s Song and Ezra Pound’s Cantos.

Was my taking all those literature classes a waste of time? Yes and no. Yes in that the students repeatedly engaged in the rhetoric of display. And no in that I did most likely develop a better appreciation for literature.

And did these classes shape my writing in any way? Not really. But it would be interesting to have a basis for comparison, Alys’s writing after taking these classes and Alys’s writing after not taking these classes.

I can also say now that much of the work of the Beat poets was male-centric – this realization has come with age.

Hmm. I went off her on a tear. Been thinking about this all for a long time. Today’s group session brought it all to the forefront of my consciousness.

Next: 271. 10/8/25: In the Dark