Lower Putah Song

Lower Putah Song is a bioregional piece, taking place in California's west Sacramento Valley. A long stream, Putah Creek passes through it. Living in Davis, Norman Schaefer walked along Putah Creek almost daily in the early 1990s, studying it and writing his first poems. The book is divided into two parts: a novella and poetry. The story begins by the creek where Schaefer meets an elderly Chinese man, who is walking from Taos, New Mexico to Inverness in Marin County. He claims he is the famous eighth century Chinese poet, Li Po. Li Po invites Schaefer to sit with him by the stream. The author doesn't believe who the old fellow says he is, but not wanting to be impolite agrees to join him for a while. What follows is a fascinating conversation covering a variety of subjects: poetry, ecology, politics, local history, Li Po's life in China, feminism, Buddhism, the Sierra Nevada, fast cars, and the author's troubled romantic life. Li Po urges him to write a book of Putah Creek poems, saying: No watershed should be without a poet. Schaefer is doubtful, but accepts the challenge. The dialogue, often punctuated with laughter, lasts until dark. Part two consists mostly of Putah Creek poems, but some are about manual labor, which the author does for a living. Stylistically, they resemble a lot of Li Po's poetry, short and clear without excess language. Give me a cord of wood, a shack on Putah, and a winter alone. The poems, which follow the seasons, pay respect to an instruction given by the San Francisco poet Kenneth Rexroth: Boil it down, but boil it with a clear blue flame. Schaefer knows what he wants to say and says it clearly. Lower Putah Song is a pleasure to read; delightful in every way and very thoughtfully written.