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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (May 9, 2019)
14 // COASTWEEKEND.COM BOOKMONGER Essays on absence from La Grande author n a display of cross-state literary cooperation, Oregon State University Press has just published a collection of essays by East- ern Oregon University pro- fessor David Axelrod. In “The Eclipse I Call Father,” Axelrod tackles the concept of absence from many different angles. His brief opening essay contemplates haiku com- posed by the 17th-cen- tury Japanese poet, Mat- suo Bashō. One translates like this: “In the misty rain / Mount Fuji is veiled all day – / how intriguing!” If not an actual eclipse, the mist presents a shroud of a different sort — and it raises the question: how do we see past the surface of I things? Whether in the natu- ral world or the human psy- che, do we have the capacity to imagine what we cannot witness? In other essays, the author revisits the childhood he navigated, mostly without his parents. His daredevil father died in an airplane crash when Axelrod was very young. After that, his mother left him to be raised primarily by her parents, so Axelrod became acquainted with absence early on. Whether talking about climate change or racism or what he regards as dimin- ished “qualities of being in the world — modesty, inti- macy, loveliness — ubiqui- tous [once] but largely for- eign to us today” – Axelrod wonders how we can grap- ple with these transforma- tions effectively, particu- larly if there are people who won’t even acknowledge that they are occurring in the fi rst place. One of the most poignant strands that runs through these pieces is the grati- tude the author feels for his maternal grandfather. Rob- ert Peters was a homespun man, not without faults, but he took his grandson on rambles across the hills and dales outside their Ohio town, and secreted spare change into a “Davy fund” to keep the boy in shoes and occasional treats, and broke out in occasional gobbledy- gook to enliven a mundane exchange. Now that Axelrod has raised sons of his own and is at the age that his grand- dad once had been, he is given to “looking over my own shoulder again into the abysm of time” and musing about legacy and both our personal and generational responsibilities in linking past generations to future ones. On the one hand, he fi nds his thoughts “exacerbated by the awareness, as we age, that life feels increas- ingly done with us and that we stand in the way of the young whose anger about their future seems directed at our generation….” And on the other hand, he wonders if this may be an exercise in hubris. “We call our habita- tion a lifetime and imag- ine it somehow a suffi - cient sum of meaning and insight, though ours may be nearer to the experience of a box-elder bug — whose life spans a year — than it is to the whitebark pine — whose life spans centuries.” These wide-rang- ing essays are tinged with humor, laden with emo- tion, and aching with beauty. They mark missed opportu- nities, they celebrate differ- ent kinds of landscapes and they spotlight a motley but meaningful assortment of relationships. “The Eclipse I Call Father” provides thought- ful, but rather melancholy, reading. THIS WEEK’S BOOK The Eclipse I Call Father – David Axelrod Oregon State University Press – 224 pp — $21.95 The Bookmonger is Bar- bara Lloyd McMichael, who writes this weekly col- umn focusing on the books, authors and publishers of the Pacifi c Northwest. Con- tact her at bkmonger@ nwlink.com CLATSOP COUNTY MASTER GARDENER ASSOCIATION EXPERT SPEAKERS • 11 AM GREAT PLANT PICKS BY MAURICE HORN, JOY CREEK NURSERY • ALL DAY MINI WORKSHOPS - COMPOSTING, GARDEN TOOL CARE, MASON BEES & POLLINATOR PLANTS SATURDAY, MAY 11 8 A.M. - 3 P.M FREE ADMISSION CLATSOP COUNTRY FAIRGROUNDS 2019 S PRING PLANT SALE & GARDEN FAIR YOUR #1 PREMIER CANNABIS RETAILER LARGEST SELECTION FRIENDLY & KNOWLEDGEABLE STAFF ELITE PRODUCTS –– For Washington Residents –– Ilwaco (8am - 10pm) 360-261-7200 133 Howerton Ave Cathlamet (8am - 10pm) 360-849-4504 327 WA-4 Kelso (8am - 12am) 360-636-0420 820A West Side Hwy Longview (8am - 12am) 360-703-3229 971 14th Ave WARNING: This product has intoxicating effects and may be habit forming. There may be health risks associated with the consumption of this product. For use only by adults 21 and over. Keep out of reach of children. Marijuana can impair concentration, coordination, and judgement. Do not operate a vehicle or machinery under the influence of this drug.
