The Folklore Muse
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Utah State University DigitalCommons@USU All USU Press Publications USU Press 2008 The Folklore Muse Frank de Caro Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/usupress_pubs Part of the Folklore Commons Recommended Citation De, C. F. A. (2008). The folklore muse: Poetry, fiction, and other eflectionsr by folklorists. Logan, Utah: Utah State University Press. This Book is brought to you for free and open access by the USU Press at DigitalCommons@USU. It has been accepted for inclusion in All USU Press Publications by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@USU. For more information, please contact [email protected]. ! e Folklore Muse ! e Folklore Muse Poetry, Fiction, and Other Re" ections by Folklorists Edited by Frank de Caro Utah State University Press Logan, Utah Copyright © 2008 Utah State University Press. All rights reserved. Excerpt from Kamp: A Memory Novel copyright © 2003 John Burrison. “Ballad Girls,” by Frank de Caro; “Eating Alone,” by Margaret Yocom; “Historical Sign” and “Christmas Tree,” by Ted Olson; extract from Lost in Redskirt Forest, by Neil R. Grobman; “my mother’s garden,” “arrowhead,” “shadowplay,” “tag,” and “red rover,” by Susan Stewart; and “Rock and Word,” by Steve Zeitlin, are reprinted by permission of their respective authors. “Legends, Rumors, Lore and Revelations (Some Incomplete) Involving Leaton Troutwine, a Local Eccentric/Celebrity/Hero (and Gordon’s Owner),” by Matt Clark, appears here by permission of Matt Clark’s literary executors, Michael Gri# th and Josh Russell. “Wondrous Love,” by Libby Tucker, is reprinted by permission of the author and Paterson Literary Review. “Work Song,” from Lay Back ! e Darkness: Poems by Edward Hirsch, copyright © 2003 by Edward Hirsch. Used by permission of Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Random House. Utah State University Press Logan, Utah 84322-7800 www.usu.edu/usupress Manufactured in the United States of America Printed on acid-free, recycled paper ISBN 978–0–87421–726–1 (cloth) ISBN 978–0–87421–727–8 (e-book) Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data De Caro, F. A. ! e folklore muse : poetry, $ ction, and other re" ections by folklorists / edited by Frank de Caro. p. cm. ISBN 978-0-87421-726-1 (cloth : alk. paper) -- 978-0-87421-727-8 (e-book) 1. Folklorists’ writings, American. 2. Folklore--Literary collections. 3. Folklorists--Literary collections. 4. American literature--21st century. PS508.F66 F66 2008 810.8/03559 22 2008034406 Contents Acknowledgments vii ! e Folklorist’s Endeavor: An Introduction 1 Being or Becoming a Folklorist 6 Steve Zeitlin, “Rock and Word” ....................................................................8 Daniel Peretti, “Shelfscapes” ...................................................................... 10 Libby Tucker, “Travels” .............................................................................. 15 Edward Hirsch, “Work Song” .................................................................... 21 Jeannie Banks ! omas, “Instructions for Installing Blinds,” “Woman, 41 (Motif GYN041)” ..........................................................23 Steve Zeitlin, “Barbara,” “Julia,” “Amanda in the Mornings” ................. 24 Joanne B. Mulcahy, “‘A% ectionados’: What My Mother Taught Me about Language”............................................................................ 26 Mary Magoulick, “Women and Water in Senegal” ................................. 32 Elaine J. Lawless, “In Search of Our Mothers . and Our Selves” ....... 39 Fieldwork, Folk Communities, Informants 54 Frank de Caro, “Oral History” ...................................................................56 Cynthia Levee, “White Blu% s and Miss Lena” ......................................... 58 Steve Zeitlin, “Margaret,” “Cat” ................................................................. 60 Jens Lund, “Karl and Janie” ........................................................................ 61 Ted Olson, “Historical Sign” ...................................................................... 66 Margaret Yocom, “Opening Camp,” “Where the Living Keep Watch,” “Echo, at Lakeside,” “In Jewelweed” ..........................68 William Bernard McCarthy, “Second Growth” ....................................... 71 Je% Todd Titon, “Percy” ..............................................................................73 Teresa Bergen, from Bigfoot Stole My Husband....................................... 84 Performance 91 Matt Clark, “Legends, Rumors, Lore, and Revelation (Some Incomplete) Involving Leaton Troutwine, a Local Eccentric/Celebrity/Hero (and Gordon’s Owner)” ......................... 93 Steve Zeitlin, “! e Storytelling Wake” ....................................................111 Leslie Prosterman, “Rant,” “Ceci,” “Painting Louise Glück” ................ 112 John Burrison, from Kamp: A Memory Novel ....................................... 117 Jeannie Banks ! omas, “Shins around the Fireside (Jig)” ................... 122 William Bernard McCarthy, “Maybelle and Sara on the Porch” ......... 123 ! e Powers of Narrative 124 Frank de Caro, “Ballad Girls” .................................................................. 126 Kirin Narayan, “Stella Stories” .................................................................128 Steve Zeitlin, “Once Upon a Time,” “Tickling the Corpse,” “Mirror” .............................................................................................. 137 Legend and Myth 139 Mary Magoulick, “A Cosmology of Women” ........................................ 141 Carrie Hertz, “Absent Gods” ....................................................................143 Paul Jordan-Smith, “Glaukos,” “Shadow” ...............................................146 Danusha Goska, “! e Ramayana . as if Sita Mattered” ....................148 Material Traditions, Material ! ings 171 Holly Everett, “One of My Mothers” .......................................................173 Steve Zeitlin, “! e Quilters” .................................................................... 178 Laurel Horton, “Grandma E# e and the Heirloom” ............................. 179 Jo Radner, “My Great-Great Half-Uncle Horace’s Bone- Handled Jackknife” ............................................................................181 Margaret Yocom, “! e Cane” .................................................................. 183 Children’s Lore and Language 184 Susan Stewart, “my mother’s garden,” “arrowhead,” “shadow- play,” “tag,” “red rover” ...................................................................... 185 Steve Zeitlin, “! e Lulu Bird Nestles in the Daddy O Tree,” “Folksay,” “! e Tenderness of Swine” ............................................. 189 Neil R. Grobman, from Lost in Redskirt Forest ......................................191 Ritual and Custom 203 William Bernard McCarthy, “! e Birthday Horse” ..............................205 Rosan Augusta Jordan, “In Praise of Bodies,” “Hands and Hearts in the Days of the Dead in Oaxaca, Mexico” .....................207 Ted Olson, “Christmas Tree” ................................................................... 210 Steve Zeitlin, “Madhulika” ....................................................................... 211 Margaret Yocom, “Eating Alone” ............................................................ 212 Norma E. Cantú, from Cabañuelas: A Love Story ................................. 213 Worldview and Belief 219 Jeannie Banks ! omas, “Salem, Massachusetts, Playground at Gallows Hill” ...................................................................................... 220 Teresa Bergen, “Haints” ............................................................................ 221 Notes 239 Contributors 240 Acknowledgments ! e editor would like to express his many thanks to the contributors to this vol- ume. ! is proposed book came to their attention mostly through a notice in the American Folklore Society’s on-line newsletter, and the enthusiastic response to that notice from the contributors was very encouraging. It ultimately resulted in this rather novel collection of writing by folklorists. ! e editor and contributors have communicated, mostly electronically, over various issues relating to the book, and that dialogue has produced a fruitful collaboration and a very interesting selection of writings. ! anks especially to Steve Zeitlin, Leslie Prosterman, and Peggy Yocom (who also chairs the Creative Writing Section of AFS, which has provided another outlet for folklorists interested in working with such expressive forms as poetry and $ ction) for their input. Many thanks to John Alley at Utah State University Press for his interest in the book and his encouragement in its completion and Diane Bush for her competent and useful copy editing. And the anonymous readers for the Press provided much useful commentary which helped in the $ nal shaping of the book. Most of the material in the book is previously unpublished. A few pieces, how- ever, have appeared elsewhere. Used with the permission of the authors (and pro- tected by their copyrights) are “Rock and Word” by Steve Zeitlin, which appeared previously in Voices: ! e Journal of New York Folklore 30 (Fall-Winter, 2004): 5); “Historical Sign” and “Christmas Tree,” by Ted Olson, published previously in his book Breathing in Darkness: Poems (Nicholasville, Kentucky: Wind Publications, 2006); “my mother’s garden,” “arrowhead,” “shadowplay,” “tag,” and “red rover” by Susan Stewart, which were $ rst published in the