Gary Snyder Reading

I had the strange experience of sitting next to someone who drew portraits of Snyder throughout his reading.  This friend of mine had to for an art class; apparently the instructor thought Gary Snyder to be a particularly interesting subject to sketch.  He was correct.  The lines in his face just fell so beautifully.  His hooded eyes would open at these wonderful little moments in the reading.  They had these big bags under them, twice the size of the eyes themselves. 

Because of this, I remember nothing of what he read, aside from him speaking somewhat about his experiences with Zen Buddhism.  I likely only recall this because I was in Ken Field’s Beat Lit class last quarter and we read No Nature and Zen Mind, Beginners Mind.  Fields kept saying that this was probably the last time he would do a reading at Stanford, he’s getting old and he lives in the backcountry somewhere, so it’s an effort to come out and do readings for chirping students and graduate contenders.  And all I remember is the way he looked.

I was so struck by how small he was, because his words always seemed so big to me.  His head was enormous compared to the rest of his body, I loved that.  His shoulders seemed so narrow.  I remember him wearing a flannel shirt but I must have made that I up.  Throughout the reading I imagined him as a wood logger, just like Paul Newman or Henry Fonda in Sometimes a Great Notion.  His beard was also quite wonderful.  He would take off his glasses and put them back on, this did not depend on whether or not he was reading.  I thought this was odd but I loved when he would just hold the frames in his hand as he was making a point.

I also remember being very annoyed by the crowd because it seemed so much like what I had expected.  The sort of kids my age I figured would be into him, the hippies from town.  I think I was really just upset because I thought this reading was my secret and I wouldn’t see so many people there.  Really it was lovely to have so many people there, laughing and listening to his words.