I found the numbers so distracting they prevented me from entering and hence enjoying. A great book about elephants is Elephant Company by Vicki Croke.
Wow. This was just amazing. It’s moments like this when I remember that memory is fallible, that I will soon forget most of this story, no matter how good it is, no matter that it made my spirit weep, that I wish I was an elephant. Only so I could never forget this story. I think this was one of your best.
Oh God, Sherman! Weeping over this. It somehow reminds me of the spider climbing out of the kid’s leg in There, There. Rufus flying off the GWB. So many robberies. Is God sometimes an IED? If so, sometimes those IEDs do work for good. I know that’s crazy, but aren’t we all on earth to have our hearts bring praise to our Creator? Whatever it takes. I have had IEDs in my and my family’s life. Just musing. Life is a true bitch, gives birth to strange pups.
As synchronicity would have it, I'm clearing out a lot books in my childhood home & have started reading an updated edition of Black Elk Speaks, and whose name would I find mentioned in the introduction concerning the canon of Native American literature but Mr. Sherman Alexie himself. The winds are swirling us together. I look forward to also reading your work in the new year
Have you read M. Scott Momaday? A House Made of Dawn. First Indian in the Us to win a Pulitzer. Tore my heart out with his prose. He is still making beauty from ashes.
Oh yeah it was a treat to see. From Philip J. Deloria's introduction (2014 U. of Nebraska edition): "Plenty of great American Indian writing came out during those years: stunning fiction and powerful nonfiction, work new and work reclaimed from the archives. Caught up by Louise Erdrich, Sherman Alexie, Leslie Marmon Silko, and others [...]"
Pain and love. Love and pain. This piece of writing rips out my heart and Robert gently replaces it.
Modern warfare. War games of childhood. We little Māori kids were always the Indians. Cooler. More righteous. We replaced the arrows with rubber tips with lengths of hose pipe and needles weighted with cotton wool. Cap guns.
Improvised weaponry. No one told us about our own unique tools of war or our battles. Just last year it began to be taught in school.
I think this is one of the most touching pieces of yours that I have ever read. The bellow of the human elephant.
I was at the hairdresser’s when I read this. I started tearing up and had to put my cell phone away.
This is one of the most powerful pieces I’ve read from you. The last line reminds me of the shofar that is blown during and at the end of Yom Kippur. An endless tone that expresses so much.
I needed to feel deeply today, so I looked for this -- my favorite need-to-feel-deeply poem/narrative. Thank you for posting it on Substack. :)
That's one strong shopping list of grief. Wow.
But of course, once over the numbers, really like the the words.
I found the numbers so distracting they prevented me from entering and hence enjoying. A great book about elephants is Elephant Company by Vicki Croke.
Wow. This was just amazing. It’s moments like this when I remember that memory is fallible, that I will soon forget most of this story, no matter how good it is, no matter that it made my spirit weep, that I wish I was an elephant. Only so I could never forget this story. I think this was one of your best.
And of course, I love your story. You are a treasure.
Oh God, Sherman! Weeping over this. It somehow reminds me of the spider climbing out of the kid’s leg in There, There. Rufus flying off the GWB. So many robberies. Is God sometimes an IED? If so, sometimes those IEDs do work for good. I know that’s crazy, but aren’t we all on earth to have our hearts bring praise to our Creator? Whatever it takes. I have had IEDs in my and my family’s life. Just musing. Life is a true bitch, gives birth to strange pups.
Will read. Feel better! Garlic, lemon, in your soup. Nature’s antibiotic.
The intermingling of the “wept” lines hits so well. The culmination feels so multilayered--, devastating, cathartic, right. Thank you for this.
Thank you, Luke
Wow, really loved this!
Especially, after 61.
Wow.
Thank you, Tiffany.
Love it. Love the story, love the numbered sentences. Ya done good!!!
Thank you, Lenora.
What a beautiful way to say everything that needs to be said: "Above the wound, Robert is a good man. Below the wound, he is also a good man."
Thank you, Samuel
As synchronicity would have it, I'm clearing out a lot books in my childhood home & have started reading an updated edition of Black Elk Speaks, and whose name would I find mentioned in the introduction concerning the canon of Native American literature but Mr. Sherman Alexie himself. The winds are swirling us together. I look forward to also reading your work in the new year
Have you read M. Scott Momaday? A House Made of Dawn. First Indian in the Us to win a Pulitzer. Tore my heart out with his prose. He is still making beauty from ashes.
Oh that's immediately jumping up my list. Thank you Kathy
Le felicito su
Interés en estos autores. La verdad es que la madre tierra tiene una sola voz que habla tras la sangre de todo ser de su creación
I didn't know I was in that intro!
Oh yeah it was a treat to see. From Philip J. Deloria's introduction (2014 U. of Nebraska edition): "Plenty of great American Indian writing came out during those years: stunning fiction and powerful nonfiction, work new and work reclaimed from the archives. Caught up by Louise Erdrich, Sherman Alexie, Leslie Marmon Silko, and others [...]"
"God was a poacher." What a line. It feels all-too-often true in life. That's art.
Thank you, Laura.
Pain and love. Love and pain. This piece of writing rips out my heart and Robert gently replaces it.
Modern warfare. War games of childhood. We little Māori kids were always the Indians. Cooler. More righteous. We replaced the arrows with rubber tips with lengths of hose pipe and needles weighted with cotton wool. Cap guns.
Improvised weaponry. No one told us about our own unique tools of war or our battles. Just last year it began to be taught in school.
I think this is one of the most touching pieces of yours that I have ever read. The bellow of the human elephant.
Thankyou, Sherman.
Thank you so much.
I was at the hairdresser’s when I read this. I started tearing up and had to put my cell phone away.
This is one of the most powerful pieces I’ve read from you. The last line reminds me of the shofar that is blown during and at the end of Yom Kippur. An endless tone that expresses so much.
Thank you, Elizabeth.
Wow, just wow! Amazing stuff again, Sherman. Thank you
Thank you, Jason.