The Story (cont.) Part IV
May. 22nd, 2005 12:31 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
create_destinyThis is part IV of an on-going travel story. If you'd like to read this story from the beginning, scroll down to the entry dated April 30, read that and scroll up from there to follow the story.
After he lost his mind and "found God" it was too painful for me to speak his name so I began to refer to him as "Nutmeg Boy" or just "Nutmeg."
It took months, years even, to piece together the events that culminated in his disappearance. Even today, eleven years later, we don’t fully understand everything that happened, mainly, whether it was an allergic reaction to the nutmeg or some kind of mental breakdown or the gnarled finger of God.
But what we do know is this:
On January 10th, 1994, at 2:00pm, he mixed three heaping tablespoons of nutmeg in a glass of orange juice and choked it down, something he had read about nutmeg inducing an altered state of consciousness if consumed in large amounts.
That night I dreamt a gun salesman broke into my house while I was sleeping, only to demonstrate the need for his product. His sales pitch was so convincing I woke up wondering if I should get a gun.
This was only the beginning of the unravelling; a foreshock really, a minuscule premonition of things to come. He disappeared for three days, apparently wandering the city in a tortured, psychotic frame of mind until a woman looked out her window and saw a man kneeling in the snow in her front yard and called 911...
After he lost his mind and "found God" it was too painful for me to speak his name so I began to refer to him as "Nutmeg Boy" or just "Nutmeg."
It took months, years even, to piece together the events that culminated in his disappearance. Even today, eleven years later, we don’t fully understand everything that happened, mainly, whether it was an allergic reaction to the nutmeg or some kind of mental breakdown or the gnarled finger of God.
But what we do know is this:
On January 10th, 1994, at 2:00pm, he mixed three heaping tablespoons of nutmeg in a glass of orange juice and choked it down, something he had read about nutmeg inducing an altered state of consciousness if consumed in large amounts.
That night I dreamt a gun salesman broke into my house while I was sleeping, only to demonstrate the need for his product. His sales pitch was so convincing I woke up wondering if I should get a gun.
This was only the beginning of the unravelling; a foreshock really, a minuscule premonition of things to come. He disappeared for three days, apparently wandering the city in a tortured, psychotic frame of mind until a woman looked out her window and saw a man kneeling in the snow in her front yard and called 911...
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nutmeg! gak!
Date: 2005-05-23 12:45 am (UTC)Re: nutmeg! gak!
Date: 2005-05-23 02:54 pm (UTC)Nutmeg Boy
Date: 2005-05-23 04:49 am (UTC)Re: Nutmeg Boy
Date: 2005-05-23 02:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-05-23 06:38 am (UTC)who you claim to be
Date: 2005-05-23 07:30 am (UTC)ps i gotta update my own interests, but since leafy is nowhere near to tell me what to do or push the buttons FOR me, it'll take awhile. i had shy fingers the first time...
Re: who you claim to be
Date: 2005-05-23 02:52 pm (UTC)I'm a Chico girl though.
no subject
Date: 2005-05-23 04:14 pm (UTC)Haunting...
Date: 2005-05-23 05:24 pm (UTC)tease
Date: 2005-05-25 06:44 am (UTC)Re: tease
Date: 2005-05-25 12:27 pm (UTC)Re: tease
Date: 2005-05-25 07:26 pm (UTC):)
Re: tease
Date: 2005-05-25 07:43 pm (UTC)learned subjects
Date: 2005-05-26 07:47 am (UTC)1.Grapes of Wrath- John Stenbeck. best amreican book hands down.
2.Light In August-William Faulkner and the middle section of "Sound and fury". forget the idiot's voice. nice try willie, but put down the fuckin 'bottle next time you wanna try writin' and i don't want to hear from any faulkner phds EXPLAINING the importance and symbolism of those sections. they were written by an alkie about an idiot and i was raised by alkies and married at one point too, so i know what i'm talkin about.
3. alot of Jack Kerouac. I used to say 'everything', i used to be an 'expert' on him, i mean, like people would ask me a quastion about him and i always had the answer, but "i'm so much younger than that now" and i'm pickier,"on the road" is a mysoginist's book and i didn't like coming to that conclusion, even though there are beautifully written pieces in it. and i am quite sure that's where yr chico band railroad earth got their name there's a beautiful section in OTR referred to as the Railroad in the October Earth which is so good the tears stream down yr face into the ice cream bowl. (who doesn't eat ice cream when they are reading? except who those who live close to the end of the month like me, usually shot my wad by the 21st but the bills are paid. all of 'em.but enough bragging about poverty levels); my point is i am much more discerning about my kerouac now, though i can find whole sections and even whole books that are so good: " subterraneans." for example.
ok, thats it on the books for a few days, i get emotional about them. i have probably a thousand and had to put more than 900 into storage four years ago when we moved from the big cabin in the woods to the caboose in town. and part of this list will be poetry unless you want a SEPARATE poetry list? my husband, hence forth known as Dan or the Bear who does dishes everyday for 12 yearsand i have a small publishing house. we didpublish one trade paper of the best poetry by larry Beckett who is the lyricist for all those old Tim Buckley songs we all dug. ya know, jeff's late dad, the junky. (i get pissed off at junkies,especially successful junkies who OD. no excuse. shame shame.)but it broke us and now we are back to chapbooks and broadsidesand CDs of live poetry readings *never say spoken word* to me, i turn into that nasty teen girl in all black who smoked quite openly cigarettes and an occasional joint in the high school bathroom with a fuck you attitude, tho i was not that wild child in real life. we'ce found that CDs are cheaper and allow more POETRY to be heard. we are so snotty about who we think is good, which is why i think you might want a separate list. i KNOW i can wander like this because you have such a cool interest list and put that ASAP on the request.oh and a finally PS, i didn't work for jonathon Richman, I worked for his record producer, though i met JR once and thought him cool enough. i have about three of his tapes somewhere in storage or maybe four. i need a librarian. i used to be one when we lived in the big cabin in the woods, but somwething happened and i did help that Dan upon asking me to marry him didn't flinch when i said 'i don't do dishes', but he doesn't do books, so we're even... more on these enticing subjects later. and yes, i understand company can ruin an entire paragraph set up let alone a novel section.
Re: learned subjects
Date: 2005-05-26 12:17 pm (UTC)My dad is a big Kerouac fan but I've never read any because I took too many women's studies classes.
Re: more learned subjects part 2:poetry
Date: 2005-05-31 09:55 am (UTC)ONWARD:
4. fiction, literature:
The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison. read it and weep and learn something and grow humble step careful and gentle with the shell-shock of mental illness through trauma. but damn it, yes, its a book full of joy at times too.
5.damn, i forgot the next one: it's 2:30 am and i have to teach poetry tomorrow. so onward to poetry and be forewarned i just have to add the third section, excellent non-fiction.
POETRY:
1. Kenneth Patchen. LOve POems, an excellent place to start. but all of his,this is just the perfect place to start. more on him later. an essay.
2. Jack Hirschman. if yr shy about diving into his seventy books of his own and abou the same about of traqnslations, go to citylights in SF or order from them,a copy of FRontLines which is both new and selected works by america's greatest.
3. Larry beckett who is also america's greatest just in a different way. now lar, wrote all the best tim buckley songs (ask yr parents if yr really young). now the bummer is, he has only one book published and i published it and it's beautiful and it costs $15. BUT if you buy one, i shall send you two for $17 (postage) and you have an instant quality present for someone in yr life. i saved eleven years to publish him he is so effin' good. most books i publish are chapbooks or broadsides, but with lar, i did a trade paper because he is that good and he's a good friend. we also publish CDs but this is no tan ad, it just slipped out. sorry.
4. Mary Norbert Korte. whatta great poet. early 60s she was a kid nun and the convent said poetry or church, all the while she's feeding people on the street w/ the diggers and hangin' with ginsberg etc. she said, "God gave me poetry to give to the world and gave up the church, but is a very well liked, holy activist living in the middle of redwoods. well, kids, i gotta go: it's 2:30 am and i have to teach poetry tomorrow. will continue, chiclet girl, as time opens up into sunflower of summer vac. tomorrow last class! huzzah! frogive spelling. everytime i touch that spell check, i lose the post before i've sent it.
Re: more learned subjects part 2:poetry
Date: 2005-05-31 12:42 pm (UTC)notary
Date: 2005-05-26 07:59 am (UTC)