In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

  • Pastoral
  • David Huddle (bio)

Truth of the stone's heart articulatedso extravagantly by Charlie Parker—that yearning is a thousand notes of songshot up out of nothingness into a greenexplosion of oaks, wren call, mauve orchids,Black Vein Skippers, cat tails stirring at dawn—

so, too, have I come to know how black spacefirst must suddenly have realized its desirefor ten billion stars to be flung up outacross the horizon, then a corridorof sunlight suspended over alwaysrestless blue-grey water. That eleven

year old girl racing into the surf,arrowing herself into the first breaker'sglassy rise? She was wanted into thisworld by a night so deep, thick, and solidthat moon and stars were out of the question.I tell you where I come from is downright

comical: my parents grew up a cowpasture away from each other, so thatmy father's first sight of my mother mustbeen as an irksome toddler, he must havefelt revulsion, small curiosity,some pity for her, too, until the day he

witnessed the miracle of beast transformedinto angel—now she was half pretty,though of course still childish, witless, with nosense of how she had changed him, suspendedhim in time's current, made him tread more yearsuntil their mothers stand talking idly [End Page 82] one morning at Price's Store, he's impatient,she's bored—let's say he's eighteen, she's thirteen—their eyes catch accidentally but then don'tskitter off to the side—                   exactly thenit quickens, all random eddies, trickles,and pools coalesce into the one great river

that flows down from deep space darkness: sheblushes, looks at her shoes, he tries to breathe,while deep in the stone's center, their vaguestwish for me stirs, their future imaginesthis grown man walking up a hillside fieldwith goldfinches rising from grass beside him. [End Page 83]

David Huddle

David Huddle is from Ivanhoe, Virginia, and he is currently the Visiting Distinguished Professor of Creative Writing at Hollins University. He is the author of sixteen books of poetry, fiction and essays. His work has appeared in The New Yorker, Harper's, Esquire, The Georgia Review, Southern Review, Shenandoah, and Sow's Ear.

...

pdf

Share