having a word for

This is my response to Mary B's response to Jeannine Hall Gailey's post.

"Which ten books are the books that have inspired the most writing from you? The books you read that you couldn't wait to put down so you could write afterwards? These aren't necessarily your "favorite" books, but the books that have helped you generate the most new work. If you are a poet, they do not have to all be poetry, they can be fiction, non-fiction, etc."

I thought I would throw my hat in the ring here because it’s something I think of often when I’m stuck or need inspiration.

As I Lay Dying: William Faulkner. He had a word for love. Addie is the strongest persona voice I’ve ever read and whenever I need her, I can pick up any of her chapters and almost instantly get an idea. And I often remember and try to work against what Addie knows for sure, that “words are no good; that words don’t ever fit even what they are trying to say at.”

The House on Marshland: Louise Gluck, master of the unsaid.

West with the Night: Beryl Markham. Hemmingway said that after reading her memoir he was ashamed of himself as a writer. This memoir achieves a kind of quietness, which I think is nearly impossible in prose. Every time I open a page I am utterly stunned.

Written On the Body: Jeanette Winterson. Someone who has actually done something innovative to the narrative voice. She’s really fearless.

Beyond the Velvet Curtain: Karen Kovacik. She moves from Catholic saints to Kafka’s father. It’s about capturing the surges in ordinary life in a way that is utterly believable.

A Companion for Owls: Maurice Manning. I know that I’m beating a dead horse here with mentioning this again in my list, but this book made me want to try out persona.

View with a Grain of Sand: Wislawa Szymborska. One of the two first books of poetry I ever bought and read. Absolutely changed my life.

American Primitive. Mary Oliver. Second of the two first books of poetry I ever bought and read. The Ohio connection, the way of writing about the Ohio landscape, is something that has always influenced and inspired me. I wish I had her vision.

Catholic Saints online: Catholic Saints. I look at this website a few times a week. Yes, I am Catholic. But that’s not the reason. These Saints are absolutely insane and the stories behind their lives are always giving me ideas, even if it’s just one little detail.

For my 10th slot, I have to say that I am always inspired to write from great photographs. Sometimes it’s a collection from (obviously) Dorothea Lange. Or a funeral photograph after the gunfight at the O.K Coral. But most of the times it’s something from the Times or the local paper or a weekly rag where someone with dirty socks is sucking clams or dripping chocolate ice cream on their white shirt. Then again, I’m definitely a child of the symbolic era. I should move to Japan.