Tuesday morning, I cleared out the last of my half of the office. I carried my set of the Bedford Anthology of World Literature to the car, along with my hot pot and grammar guides. I finished the paperwork for my check-out procedure. I was thinking, with great excitement, about my imminent departure for Sewanee, followed by my departure for Georgetown. I was thinking, with even greater excitement, about the fact that I’d get to take classes again, at Sewanee, and hear all of the exciting lectures and talks posted on the schedule. I was thinking, with greatest excitement, about the thrill of being back in a workshop, about the joy of once again joining a community of writers. And then I hit a wall.
Literally.
A concrete wall. With my car. In the parking lot across from the College of Liberal Arts building on campus, as I swerved to avoid a gigantic SUV which made an especially and unnecessarily gigantic turn in my direction. I am, at this point, visualizing it as a NASCAR race, when one driver forces another against a wall. I am, at this point, visualizing the other driver as Danica Patrick. Only I was going ten miles per hour rather than a hundred or more.
Apparently, ten miles per hour is enough — though it at first seemed that only the wheel was damaged, the entire underside of the car is bent, and the repair work will not be complete until next Friday. This, along with a slew of other factors, means that Sewanee is, terribly, terribly, impossible at this point. I think that I’m still in a state of disbelief about this. Sewanee is a very special place for me: I attended the Sewanee Young Writers’ Conference for two years, and consider my first year there to be the turning point in my career, if not my life. It was during that first year at SYWC that I had the great fortune to study with Diann Blakely, the brilliant, compassionate, and awe-inspiring teacher who changed my life, who set me on the course I’m still taking today. I have so been looking forward to returning to Sewanee, hoping to revisit the site of that transformation. It appears, however, that it’s not meant to be.
I had a favorite place on the campus: a scenic overlook that was too breathtaking to be described. Were my photographs not packed, I’d scan one and post it; as they are packed, I’m posting this photograph, pilfered from the Internet, which either is this particular spot or a spot remarkably like it.
As for what I’ll do these two weeks: I’ve decided to take a page from the lecture I deliver each year before we discuss Krapp’s Last Tape, and follow Beckett’s lead. Between the years of 1946 and 1950, Beckett retreated to his apartment in Paris and worked almost continuously. While I don’t have the stamina for four years, and doubt that I’ve got a trilogy of novels waiting to be written, I do have two weeks free for constant work, and a great deal of work to do. Updates to follow.
Emma Bolden is the author of How To Recognize A Lady, a chapbook of poems published as part of Edge by Edge, the third in Toadlily Press' Quartet Series, and The Mariner's Wife, a chapbook published by Finishing Line Press. Her third chapbook, The Sad Epistles, is forthcoming from Dancing Girl Press. She was the recipient of a Tennessee Williams Scholarship to the Sewanee Writers' Conference and was named a Finalist for a Ruth Lilly Fellowship by the Poetry Foundation/Poetry magazine. Her work has been published or is forthcoming in such journals as Prairie Schooner, the Indiana Review, Feminist Studies, The Journal, Redivider, The Greensboro Review, and Verse. Her manuscript was a semi-finalist for the Perugia Press Prize. She is a Visiting Assistant Professor of English at Georgetown College, where she also serves as the poetry editor of the Georgetown Review.
5 comments
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July 10, 2008 at 8:55 pm
Mary Alexandra Agner
I hope your post means that you’re physically unhurt??!?! I’m so sorry to hear about all of this.
July 11, 2008 at 12:42 am
mariegauthier
O O O Emma! How awful for you! and your poor car!
Although it won’t be the same as Sewanee (and the blows just keep right on coming!), I hope your 2 weeks will be both restful and fruitful — perhaps just what you need before the Big Move?
July 11, 2008 at 1:18 am
emmabolden
Mary — I’m physically fine, except for some soreness and two nasty bruises on my left arm, which are either from my hitting the dashboard or from my multiple failed attempts to remove the spare tire.
Marie — I know, I know — it’s pretty awful. The next couple of weeks will, hopefully, at least be restful. I was going to have to move the day after I got back, which would’ve been a bit hectic, to say the least. But Seeewwaaannneeeeeeee!!!
July 16, 2008 at 5:14 pm
jessiecarty
Really hated to hear about your car
I totalled one of the company cars at my old job by only taking my foot off the brake and rolling into the hitch on an SUV (I was reading a police report). Then like three months later I totalled my own car leaving said job! I am accident free for a while *knock on wood*
And that all happened while I was working as an Auto Claims Adjuster.
See it can be worse
And I still say hopefully we will both be at Sewannee next year!
July 18, 2008 at 4:55 pm
emmabolden
Jessie — Oh, MAN. Yes, indeed, it could be worse. I’ve finally gotten rid of the nasty bruise on my face, at least. And yes, we WILL be at Sewanee next year!