Short Takes PA

by Kitchen,Judith

• ISBN13: 9780393326000
• ISBN10: 0393326004
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2005-07-17
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company

Summary

In the years since the perennially popular In Short and In Brief were published, readers have come to delight in the deft focus of the succinct piece we now call The Short. Extending this trend, Short Takes presents over seventy-five writers whose range and style demonstrate the myriad ways we humans have of telling our truths. Themes develop and speak to or collide with one another: musings about parents, childhood, sports, weather, war, solitude, nature, loss#xE2;#x80;#x94;and, of course, love. The stellar roster of contributors includes well-known writers#xE2;#x80;#x94;Verlyn Klinkenborg, Jo Ann Beard, David Sedaris, Dorothy Allison, Salman Rushdie, and Terry Tempest Williams#xE2;#x80;#x94;along with Michael Perry, Mark Spragg, Jane Brox, and others whose literary stars are clearly rising. Each short#xE2;#x80;#x94;whether a few paragraphs or reaching 2,000 words, and reflecting almost every way nonfiction can be written#xE2;#x80;#x94;invites us to experience the power of the small to move, persuade, and change us.

Table of Contents

Editor's Introduction	11	(8)
PEGGY SHUMAKER
Moving Water, Tucson	19	(2)
LUCIA PERILLO
Brief History of My Thumb	21	(7)
STEPHEN KUUSISTO
Night Song	28	(7)
REBECCA McCLANAHAN
Signs and Wonders	35	(6)
RICHARD RODRIGUEZ
from "Mexico's Children"	41	(3)
MARY CLEARMAN BLEW
Tenino	44	(7)
MARK SPRAGG
In Wyoming	51	(3)
ANN DAUM
Those Who Stay and Those Who Go	54	(6)
PAMELA MICHAEL
The Khan Men of Agra	60	(5)
SALMAN RUSHDIE
Water's Edge	65	(3)
NAOMI SHIHAB NYE
Someone I Love	68	(3)
JOE MACKALL
Words of My Youth	71	(4)
LAWRENCE SUTIN
Six Postcards	75	(6)
LIA PURPURA
September	81	(1)
ANNE MCDUFFIE
Winter Wheat	82	(6)
AMY TAN
confessions	88	(3)
KELLY CHERRY
Planet Unflinching	91	(2)
DOROTHY ALLISON
from Two or Three Things I Know for Sure	93	(4)
KIM BARNES
Work	97	(7)
KATHLEEN DEAN MOORE
Muskgrass Chara	104	(3)
KATRINA ROBERTS
Undercurrent	107	(3)
JAMES GALVIN
A Second Time	110	(2)
VERLYN KLINKENBORG
January	112	(3)
LARRY WOIWODE
Winter	115	(7)
TED KOOSER
In Nebraska	122	(2)
KENT MEYERS
The Night Trucks	124	(4)
SVEN BIRKERTS
Opposite of South	128	(5)
SHERMAN ALEXIE
What Sacagawea Means to Me	133	(4)
STEPHEN DUNN
Two	137	(2)
PAUL ZIMMER
The Trains	139	(5)
DAVID HUDDLE
Men at Night	144	(3)
SCOTT ELY
Random	147	(5)
JUDITH KITCHEN
Standard Time	152	(8)
JANET WONDRA
The War at Home	160	(6)
WANG PING
Book War	166	(3)
LAWRENCE MILLMAN
Bookless in Biak	169	(4)
RON CARLSON
Disclaimer	173	(3)
MICHAEL MARTONE
Contributor's Note	176	(5)
DAVID SEDARIS
Me Talk Pretty One Day	181	(7)
BARBARA MALLONEE
Semi-Colon	188	(4)
STEPHEN COREY
Experiencing	192	(4)
BARBARA HURD
Moon Snail	196	(4)
REG SANER
Breakfast with Canis Iatrons	200	(8)
CHARLES BERGMAN
An Animal Looks at Me	208	(5)
SUSANNE ANTONETTA
The Human Road	213	(6)
ANN PANCAKE
Capital Realism	219	(8)
PICO IYER
Jet Lag	227	(5)
M.J. IUPPA
Daylight Savings Time	232	(3)
BRENDA MILLER
Getting Yourself Home	235	(3)
PAUL LISICKY
Afternoon with Canals	238	(3)
MARY PAUMIER JONES
Siena, Burnt and Raw	241	(3)
SAMUEL HYNES
from The Growing Seasons	244	(4)
JOANN BEARD
Behind the Screen	248	(6)
EMILY HIESTAND
Hose	254	(6)
JOSEPH EPSTEIN
Take Me Out to the Ballgame	260	(4)
PETER BALAKIAN
The Old Country	264	(7)
HAYDEN CARRUTH
Human Cruelty	271	(3)
LUC SANTE
The Unknown Soldier	274	(4)
STUART DYBEK
Confession	278	(2)
SEBASTIAN MATTHEWS
Kind of Blue	280	(3)
DINTY W. MOORE
Son of Mr. Green Jeans	283	(9)
MICHAEL DATCHER
the spinners	292	(3)
SONJA LIVINGSTON
The Ghetto Girls' Guide to Dating and Romance	295	(7)
ANNE PANNING
The Mother	302	(3)
JOANNA McNANEY
Clean Slate	305	(2)
VALERIE MINER
Ritual Meals	307	(7)
JOYCE THOMPSON
Getting Rid of the Gun	314	(4)
GERALD STERN
Bullet in My Neck	318	(4)
MICHAEL PERRY
The Big Nap	322	(6)
BILL CAPOSSERE
The Museum of Obsolete Colors	328	(5)
MARVIN BELL
Four	333	(4)
S.L. WISENBERG
Margot's Diary	337	(6)
JANE BROX
Salt Hay	343	(2)
TERRY TEMPEST WILLIAMS
Revision	345	(2)
JOHN MCPHEE
They're in the River	347	(7)
SANDRA SWINBURNE
Essay, Dresses, and Fish	354	(5)
ALBERT GOLDBARTH
Some Cloths	359	(8)
Biographical Notes	367	(16)
Alphabetical Contents	383	(4)
List of Themes	387	(6)
Permissions	393