Blog #4
Addonizio’s ”How to Succeed in Po Biz” was funny, but I couldn’t pick it to write about because it was too self-indulgent. Sure it was funny, but it didn’t do anything for me. Lydia Davis “We Had Wondered What Animal Might Arrive” was one that I had to read twice. At first glance, I didn’t like it. It’s boring. It’s dull. It’s about cows. however, in the subsequent readings, I thought it turned into a little ode to the banal. The tone is very distanced, it feels like the scribbles of someone people watching. The strongest one of the senses used in the piece is that of vision. The stong visual images, and the reflection that follows of those images lends to the people watching feel. My favorite lines are in the last paragraph: “Two of them have strange white faces, like masks, but they rarely look up… The other day, I realized they were growing up, because I saw two of them charging each other for the first time and butting heads together. In another few months, perhaps, they will be large enough to slaughter for their meat. Then, I will miss their deep black against the green field, and their peaceful occupation.” It has such a simple flavor, but one that is loaded with beauty, compassion and elegant truth. The solitary vibe and the feeling that everything will eventually die, was resonant after reading the small piece. It had an almost Steinbeck feel. It would be something that I would want to publish in something like Dust and Fire.
