AN ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS OF Tracy Boothman Duyck for the degree of Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing presented on December 1, 2003. Title: The Yogiebogeybox Abstract Approved: Redacted for Privacy The Yogiebogeybox isa novel-in-stories. This novel explores spiritual transcendence and the connection of art to that spiritual journey. A variety of points of view are employed in the narrative in order to depict the journey of the protagonist, Ant Malo, through this journey. Some of the narrative threads are layered, told through filters, and filters are central to the theme of this novel. In each story, the narrators, many of whom speak through the author (a character named Tracy Boothman Duyck) comment on these journeys. In "Practical Jokes" a neighbor of Ant's, Sally, has a physical experience that is orchestrated by Ant, who rests secure in his good deeds. He believes that his deeds alone, inspired by a spirit of goodwill, make him a good man. "Prince Lovely and the Little Bigs" offers a portrait of Ant's daughter Regina, an adolescent girl whose opinion of her father, in the light of events that happen in her life, would differ from his own. "In the Company of Bards" illustrates Ant's late coming-of- age and acceptance of his transgressions in the physical world and depicts how the consequence of those transgressions compel him to seek a penance that shadows his daughter's fate. Stories like "Jimi Hendrix's Banshee," "Liturgy of the Hour," and "2001- A View from a Dreamscape Out West" and "More in the Way of Dreams," bring the spiritual and sub-conscience life of Ant Malo together, and couple the presence of the metaphysical with the mystery of existence. "Mama Junk," "The Salt of Time" and "Kennedy Plaza at Dusk" examine loss, a sense of obligation to self-preservation and the limitations that individuals bring to marriage, relationships and parenthood. Levity is provided through the sections that chronicle the process of the author and her muse, both of whom sincerely and vicariously experience events in these stories. Those sections further illustrate the reality of the writing life. Work is accomplished while the author and muse slog along, gossiping, sniping, mothering and imagining elaborate book deals and Hollywood options. Incidentally, all sections depicting the author-as-character are strictly fictional. Any similarity to the actual author's personality, temperament, appearance, predilections, or habits are purely coincidental. © Copyright by Tracy Boothman Duyck December 1, 2003 All Rights Reserved The Yogiebogeybox by Tracy Boothman Duyck A THESIS submitted to Oregon State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Fine Arts Presented December 1, 2003 Commencement June 2005 Master of Fine Arts thesis of Tracy Boothman Duyck presentedon December 1, 2003. APPROVED: Redacted for Privacy Major 1rofessor, representing Creative Writing Redacted for Privacy F!ad of the Department of English Redacted for Privacy Dean of the ØLdué School I understand that my thesis will become part of the permanent collection of Oregon State University libraries. My signature below authorizes release ofmy thesis to any reader upon request. Redacted for Privacy Tracy B hman Duyck, Author ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS A heart felt thanks to my husband for his enduring love and consistent patience, for selling our home, changing his career path, and altering his lifestyle in support of my artistic work and this thesis. Thanks also to my beautiful children, Quentin and Gianna for opening my eyes. With this group I must include a special thanks to Mary Trotter who supported my household tirelessly while I was recuperating from calamities that befell me. I must thank also my mother, father, sister and brother-in-law and the extended Bootbman and Accinno families for their support, care, and the love and angst they fostered in me. All of that inspiring this work in part. My sincere appreciation goes to the Center for the Humanities at Oregon State University for generously providing support through the Sally Hacker Memorial Women's Research Fund. This fund and the careful administration of it by Wendy Madar helped me to hone my craft. The same must be said of the VONA Voices workshop that provided financial support and artistic guidance. Thanks there to Diem Jones and Junot Diaz as well as my fellow workshop participants. Special thanks to Sharon Tahajod for friendship, tireless encouragement, and laughter at the other end of the telephone. Hester Kaplan, Katherine Kulpa and Ruth Bailey gave me a skilled readership when I started to apply to programs. Initial encouragement and induction into a writing community was offered by the Off Broadway and the Flat Sundays Writers Groups. The latter was piloted by Tom Cobb, a teacher and critic whose creative work takes my breath away. How to thank Marjorie Sandor, for teaching me how to write? The best I can do is mention her here. Thanks to Dr. Tracy Daugherty, and Dr. Lisa Ede for their careful and scholarly consideration of my work and to fellow MFA candidates in the program at Oregon State University: Lutz, Miftaraj, Bluhm, Stephens, Harris, Young; all hard core. Keith Scribner and Lisa Ni Bhraonain were outstanding when expressing their interesting points-of- view and in providing editing advice. Dr. Christopher Anderson at OSU and Dr. Richard Neuse at the University of Rhode Island deserve as much thanks as Dante for navigating me throughThe Divine Comedywhich inspired this work. Dr. Neil Davidson must be mentioned too, for the gift he presented me in recommending the Eliman biographies. Thanks must also be extended to my old Stomping Ground, Providence, for letting me live in it, feel up its tombs and statues, scrape its cobbles, trounce through its churches, rag on its university students, mention its artists, love it, hate it, patronize it, and include it here. Ditto for Rhode Island in general, those pretty, pretty beaches. I am honored and proud to note that the poem, "My Trip Through the Afterlife," on page ninety-two was contributed by Dr. Christopher Anderson. TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Part One Wishing for a Muse .6 Mrs. Lafferty..............................................................................................12 KennedyPlaza at Dusk .............................................................................. 19 Same Time, Different Channel..................................................................25 Introducing the Writer ............................................................................... 30 PracticalJokes...........................................................................................38 MeierSolicits Praise....................................................................................75 Flashback 1947: The Salt of Time.............................................................78 Part Two BoyMeets Dante.......................................................................................83 FloatingUncle Post....................................................................................87 The Night We Found the Poem.................................................................95 ThePoem'................................................................................................100 DiscouragementSets In...........................................................................103 Dreamscape: A View from a National Forest Out West.........................106 Liturgyof the Hour ..................................................................................110 Of Poltergeists and Caffeine Fits .............................................................117 Prince Lovely and the Little Bigs ............................................................123 Antand Myra ...........................................................................................149 Part Three More in the Way of Dreams .................................................................... 158 AParting of the Ways.............................................................................. 162 Sniping on November Eve ....................................................................... 170 After Losing Regina Ant Takes a Gander at Old Work.......................... 172 Ant's Story from 1969 ............................................................................... 174 Jimi Hendrix's Banshee .185 MamaJunk...............................................................................................190 The Writer Presents Us with Problems....................................................194 Inthe Company of Bards.........................................................................204 DEDICATION For that sharp-witted muse Gregory P. Duyck PrologueAugust 1947 Anthony Malo Ventures from the Nest There were boxes on the floor, boxes of all shapes and sizes; Anthony's mother brought them in. She brought them in filled with clothes, clothes she got from a man who enlisted her help in returning them to the Outlet Company, a department store downtown. When she and Ant were successful at returning them there was reason for celebration. Sometimes there were toystoys that she took outofher large pursemore often she gave him candy. When there were no toys Ant played in the boxes. He imagined how first grade would be, pretended that he was the teacher. It did not smell good in the apartment. There were no sheets on Ant's or his mother's bed. Long ago the sheets were soiled. They sat in a pile, gathering flies, in the hall