No, the post title is not a cheap shot at an elderly statesman of the literary world, it's the title of a large Broadside that was published in a signed and numbered limited edition of 150 copies by Lord John Press of Northridge in 1982. The story that appears on the Broadside also appears in Robert Coover's collection, In Bed One Night and Other Brief Encounters (Burning Deck, 1983). It's about 15" in height and 22" wide with an illustration by Vance Gerry.
The story, like many from that short collection of stories (59 pages in length) is written in what almost looks like a choppy manner; no caps; no punctuation. However, once one digs in a bit and figures out the rhythm of Coover's words, it's much less choppy of a read--there are natural breaks, he just chose not to employ periods or commas throughout.
The story begins with an old man on a park bench:
this one has to do with an old man
there was a park a bench children playing the usual disposition
birds breadcrumbs dry leaves he wore an old hat
Read that bit once or twice and you'll get the rhythm and easily determine how to read with stops and starts the rest of the way.
The story starts in this realist manner and sways to the magical halfway through when the old man suddenly has the ability to fly. He's not overly
thrilled with this ability however, as his coat is heavy, it's a lot of work, etc. It's an enjoyable story, but truth be told, unless the story was absolutely horrible, I'd still have been interested in the item itself. I'm a fan of the non-straightforward item when it comes to literature. I love Broadsides and when they add in a cool illustration, or are by an author I'm a big fan of, I'm most likely going to do what I have to do to track a copy down for myself.
As noted, this is a signed and numbered copy that I need to get framed soon so I don't accidentally do it harm.
Recent Comments