Day 2774

Day 2774
a deepening blue
in the west transitioning
to night in the east

Day 2773

Day 2773

the snow-covered fields

reflecting the bright moon-light

stretched out to the west

Day 2772

Day 2772

at the small table

Mark opened the book he’d brought

and read me a poem

Day 2771

Day 2771

I walked back and forth

trying to find something right

amidst all the shlock

Troy’s Book Club: The Pearl

“The Pearl” is a short book, called a “parable” even, by one of my favorite, classic authors – John Steinbeck. I’ve taken to his earthy, simple writing style and have read a few of his books – “Cannery Row”, “East of Eden”, “Of Mice and Men”, and “The Grapes of Wrath.” “The Pearl” was first published in Dec 1945, and was suggested for readers “age 12 and up”; it was published in Woman’s Home Companion magazine. By 1988, it had gone through 109 printings! As with his other books, this one drew me in, created very real characters, and made me concerned for their well-being.

With “The Pearl”, Steinbeck sets his story somewhere on the Gulf (presumably “of Mexico”, though it’s never explicitly stated). His main characters are a couple – Kino and Juana – and their child, Coyotito. Kino is a pearl-diver, exploring the reefs to find pearls to sell in the nearby town. In the course of his diving, he finds “the pearl of the world”, an impossibly large pearl. The story follows the changes in Kino’s relationships with the other townspeople and what happens to his family as they try to deal with those changes. Steinbeck avoids sermonizing or telling people how to behave; he just lays out a narrative and allows the reader to make their own sense of what happens. It seems pretty in keeping with Steinbeck’s famous quote: “There ain’t no sin and there ain’t no virtue. There’s just stuff people do.”

If you want, you can get this book from Boswell Books, or check it out from the Milwaukee Public Library!

Day 2770

Day 2770

he showed courtesy

to me, and then both of us

held the door open

Day 2769

Day 2769

I saw the photos

read the words, started to think

“what else can I do?”

Day 2768

Day 2768

I jumped off the wall

looked both ways repeatedly

crossed the railroad tracks

walking on water

feelings as water,

almost frozen over, but

easy to fall through

Day 2767

Day 2767

our lives continue;

each day we get to decide
how we go forward