Lakeland College

Taking Jim Gustafson to New York
Posted on 2/5/2006 7:15:41 PM

My honors project might be heading to New York. Ya, NEW YORK!

I don’t know how well I have explained my honors project—briefly, I believe, so I will recap. I am creating a book that will feature poet Jim Gustafson through his letters typed by him to Karl Elder, fessler professor of creative writing here at Lakeland, aka my mentor.

I have been working since the end of last summer on this project. First, I needed to find out about Jim, who he was. He has been deceased since 1996, so I had to put my detective hat on because Karl only knew Jim for part of his life, and the majority of the time was through letters. I began to contact many of his publishers/friends throughout the country, inquiring about Jim and the life he led and the writing he produced. I also had to study other layouts of letter publishment and Jim’s work. My favorites is "The Idea of Detroit" published by Seems Issue 5 and his "Fat Men" poems published in the Chicago Review in 1972. Amazing. Here is just a lick of Jim’s style:

"Detroit just sits there

like the head of a large dog on a serving platter."

"Two fate men and skinny guy

with transparent skin like a goldfish are playing pool.

The two fat men are identical twins

except their dueling scars are opposite cheeks,

and one drinks Canadian whisky while the other is happier with

beer."

"The whisky is knocked on the floor and creeps across the bar

like an edidemic of small pox."

Amazing, how he gets at the truth about life, even the not so beautiful parts. Gustafson said in Contemporary authors: vol 125:

"I consider the human condition to be vital. The main gist of my work is to try to decipher some of its mysteries. I’m interested in everything—as an all-round information addict—with special interests in areas of the arts, painting, all genres of writing, music and dance. I’ve lived in virtually every major American city, including Detroit, New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Albuquerque, Baltimore, New Orleans, Miami, and Chicago, as well as London, Madrid, and Tangiers. I’m fairly adequate in Spanish, French, Swedish, Slovakian, and I can speak a bit of Tagalog."

However, there is more to Jim than just his writing—his personality, which will be revealed in the collection of letters, which is the heart behind his writing, which is not always so beautiful either, but memorable and vivid, making anyone smirk at the sight of it.

Anyway, enough of the recap, back to New York. Matt Henriksen, Lakeland graduate, has told Karl he is very interested in my project and wants to publish it, possibly as a whole volume in Typo, a literary magazine that he edits. I can’t even describe how it would feel, not for myself, but for Jim. A part of his life that could have been forgotten in a manila folder and stuff in a box somewhere, but instead could be read by many.

I just finished scanning in 40 letters and touching them up on Photoshop today. (Thanks, goes out to Sarah, my fellow blogger and friend, for letting me use her scanner and computer today!)

Pretty exciting! Check Typo out at www.typomag.com.

See you all on the flip side! Keep on truck’n until then!