Twedes
by Ann Bogle
“I hope this finds you sleeping peacefully,” he wrote. “Last night the Scots invaded Sweden,” I wrote, “to retrieve the silver filched .. "
“... from the Irish the Norwegians had in their coffers when Sweden conquered. The Swedes offered the Nobel to a Scots writer to keep ... "
My great uncle Vernon, eldest, asked his father's blessing to marry Olga, who had always lived across the street and was Norwegian. Then the
... other children followed suit: my grandmother a Scotsman; her brother a Patricia from Chicago 12 years his junior; her sister a lady ...
... she met after driving to California in her A-model or T-model Ford. All will be married, I knew at three. In the car in Minneapolis we
... drove by The Sons of Norway, a fraternal organization, and I thought of Olga's brothers who, because of my great uncle's father, could
... marry the ones they most wanted to marry, even if they were Swedish like me. I thought the grooms got their tuxedos at Sons of Norway.
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Author's Note
Tweeted July 30, 2012.
Turned down by The New Yorker the day after the Scottish vote for independence, September 20, 2014.
Very... thanks.
This is so dellightful, the historical linked to the marital, as it often is in families. But in contrast to families that perpetuate historical rifts, this one heals by constantly crossing the rift's lines and weaving connections. I love the ending:
.. marry the ones they most wanted to marry, even if they were Swedish like me. I thought the grooms got their tuxedos at Sons of Norway.
I also love the layout and spacing of a prose poem. Very effective. This is a stellar example, in my opinion of a piece that melds both the story element of microfiction and the compression, cadence and line structure of prose poetry. Extremely well-executed. Clear, tender and funny. A fave*.
It's like a fragmented history of the Midwest. Very effective piece.*
bravo!*
This is wonderful, Ann! A fragmentary (sp?) masterpiece! *
I love the filched silver. *
A gem of the insular reach of families.
Not your usual thing, for the material I've read, but there are all the Bogleisms that make me avid!
Breakthrough idea!
Lust in my heart for this.
*
this put in my mind of---who was that woman a few years back on FN who posted a story about "twoops?"--i.e. tweets from the toilet, while pooping? anyway, that was funny and good, so is this. familial tweets, tweets from the toilet, the ragged way we write, syllable at a time, a geography of desire. ha--twoops, that still makes me laugh--what's a girl to do, from the toilet, when the urge comes (to write?) the sweet urgency of that....
*
Fave, Ann. To me this reads almost like an oral diary, spoken by a manic grandmother, being told to a child who afterwards might have wondered, "why did I ask her?" I love the damn thing. So well done.
Amazing. Wonderful piece, Ann.*
A wow one. I'm marveling at how the first two sections marry (sorry) up with the rest. It makes me think of Minnesota so much it seems almost regional.*
Gary, one of the best tweeters is Jules Archer, and if anyone could twoop nicely (well), she could. Swedes check their poop, Scots think it's better not to check it too often, the English don't poop. That is what I learned living in my family.
David, there is a photo album at FB of my grandparents and a few other forebears. Grandma a gold. The lore was pretty live, the people still living though not talkative. "Twedes" is a child's perception, but your comment made me think.
Thanks, favers and commenters! Comments on walls.
In my comment to Bobbi Lurie, I thank Gloria Garfunkel for the pressure (impetus) to get notes out with this song.
Dazzled *
Thanks, Penny, so much. I left you a comment at WHAT and noted, "It's not even a favorite of mine, but thanks for the fave as well." As it follows a different sentence there, it may seem I am referring to your comment as not a favorite of mine, instead of what I did mean, that WHAT is not a favorite of mine.
Tweet!
I loved this from Twedes to Norway. Three times. FAVE
Many thanks, Kenton and Christopher!