Excellent reading. “ wants” among my top ten stories of all time. 5 out of 7 of my all time fav are by Charles Bukowski in order of preference “ The Blanket” “ The Most Beautiful Woman in Town” “ would you suggest writing as a career” “Life and death in the charity ward” “ Animal Crackers In My Soup” “ Wants” “ City Of Churches” ( Donald Barthelme) Would love to hear you recite “ The Blanket” and “ The Most Beautiful Woman in town” Yhese 2 Buk Stories are immortal. I hope I’m not imposing but here’s one by me: ELOISE, EDNA & THE CHICKEN COOP “based on a true incident” ~~ There was once a young Black lady named Eloise who in the 1950s inherited from her grandmother a parcel of land in the suburbs of Compton, California at a time when there was strong racial prejudice against women of color-especially those Black women who owned property in predominately white neighborhoods. It happened there lived adjacent to Eloise’s land a white woman named Edna who did not like the fact that a Black lady owned land next to hers. Eloise would try to be friendly because she believed Jesus when He said “Love Thy Neighbor” and to Eloise that meant even if your neighbor was unfriendly. But whenever Eloise saw Edna, Edna would turn her back and ignore her and go about her business. In fact, ever since her husband died a decade ago, Edna became mean and unfriendly to everyone in the neighborhood. But to Eloise, she was especially hateful and full of animosity so much so that at night when all the lights in Eloise home were off, Edna went to her own backyard where she kept her chicken coop and gathered up all the manure and dumped it on Eloise land and upon her tomatoes and her greens and everything she was growing, in an attempt to destroy it. And when Eloise realized the next morning that there was all this manure, instead of becoming angry, she decided to rake and mix it in with the soil and use it as fertilizer. Every night Edna would dump the manure from her chicken coop litter box on Eloise’s land and every morning Eloise would turn the manure over and mix it in with the soil. This went on for several weeks until one morning Eloise noticed there was no manure in her yard. One of the neighbors informed Eloise that Edna had fallen ill. But because Edna was so disliked because of her mean and unfriendly personality , no one came to see her when she was sick. But when Eloise heard about Edna’s condition she picked the best flowers from her garden, walked to Edna’s house , knocked on her front door and when Edna saw Eloise , she was in complete shock that this Black lady who she had been so cruel to, would be the only neighbor to visit and bring flowers. Edna was deeply moved by Eloise kindness. Then Eloise handed the flowers to Edna who said, “These are the most beautiful flowers I’ve ever seen! Where’d you get them?” Eloise replied “I owe you a debt of gratitude; if it wasn’t for you, these flowers would not exist. It was you who helped me make them because when you were dumping in my yard, I decided to plant roses and use your manure as fertilizer.” This unexpected act of kindness opened the floodgate of Edna’s heart that had been closed for so long. “When I’m feeling better, I would love to have you over for tea,” Edna informed Eloise. “Thank you, “ Edna replied , assuring her she would come. And then added “ I will pray for your speedy recovery every night” And with those words Eloise departed. It’s amazing what can blossom from manure. There are some who allow manure to fall on them and do nothing. But then there are others-like Eloise -who “turn the other cheek” when abused or in this case “turn over the soil” to make something new like those beautiful red roses that opened a white woman’s heart. -Al Fogel
THX so much for yr Reading Honoring the late Grace Paley: her Words, Angles & Teachings. Love how YOU interpreted her work; TY, Aaron Gill!!
Thanks so much!!!
This is awesome, not a nornal vocab in my bank. Thanks.
Absolute terrific reading..& vibe. Thank you. jkcosmos
Excellent reading. “ wants” among my top ten stories of all time.
5 out of 7 of my all time fav are by Charles Bukowski in order of preference
“ The Blanket”
“ The Most Beautiful Woman in Town”
“ would you suggest writing as a career”
“Life and death in the charity ward”
“ Animal Crackers In My Soup”
“ Wants”
“ City Of Churches” ( Donald Barthelme)
Would love to hear you recite “ The Blanket” and “ The Most Beautiful Woman in town”
Yhese 2 Buk Stories are immortal.
I hope I’m not imposing but here’s one by me:
ELOISE, EDNA & THE CHICKEN COOP
“based on a true incident”
~~
There was once a young Black lady named Eloise who in the 1950s inherited from her grandmother a parcel of land in the suburbs of Compton, California at a time when there was strong racial prejudice against women of color-especially those Black women who owned property in predominately white neighborhoods.
It happened there lived adjacent to Eloise’s land a white woman named Edna who did not like the fact that a Black lady owned land next to hers.
Eloise would try to be friendly because she believed Jesus when He said “Love Thy Neighbor” and to Eloise that meant even if your neighbor was unfriendly.
But whenever Eloise saw Edna, Edna would turn her back and ignore her and go about her business. In fact, ever since her husband died a decade ago, Edna became mean and unfriendly to everyone in the neighborhood.
But to Eloise, she was especially hateful and full of animosity so much so that at night when all the lights in Eloise home were off, Edna went to her own backyard where she kept her chicken coop and gathered up all the manure and dumped it on Eloise land and upon her tomatoes and her greens and everything she was growing, in an attempt to destroy it.
And when Eloise realized the next morning that there was all this manure, instead of becoming angry, she decided to rake and mix it in with the soil and use it as fertilizer.
Every night Edna would dump the manure from her chicken coop litter box on Eloise’s land and every morning Eloise would turn the manure over and mix it in with the soil.
This went on for several weeks until one morning Eloise noticed there was no manure in her yard.
One of the neighbors informed Eloise that Edna had fallen ill. But because Edna was so disliked because of her mean and unfriendly personality , no one came to see her when she was sick.
But when Eloise heard about Edna’s condition she picked the best flowers from her garden, walked to Edna’s house , knocked on her front door and when Edna saw Eloise , she was in complete shock that this Black lady who she had been so cruel to, would be the only neighbor to visit and bring flowers.
Edna was deeply moved by Eloise kindness.
Then Eloise handed the flowers to Edna who said,
“These are the most beautiful flowers I’ve ever seen! Where’d you get them?”
Eloise replied
“I owe you a debt of gratitude; if it wasn’t for you, these flowers would not exist. It was you who helped me make them because when you were dumping in my yard, I decided to plant roses and use your manure as fertilizer.”
This unexpected act of kindness opened the floodgate of Edna’s heart that had been closed for so long.
“When I’m feeling better, I would love to have you over for tea,” Edna informed Eloise.
“Thank you, “ Edna replied , assuring her she would come. And then added “ I will pray for your speedy recovery every night”
And with those words Eloise departed.
It’s amazing what can blossom from manure.
There are some who allow manure to fall on them and do nothing.
But then there are others-like Eloise -who “turn the other cheek” when abused or in this case “turn over the soil” to make something new like those beautiful red roses that opened a white woman’s heart.
-Al Fogel
Can you explain the story? Because I didn't understand it.