I Read Books: Stovetop Ghosts by Katy Naylor

 

Stovetop Ghosts by Katy Naylor

1. In which I talk about friendship in general and my relationship with Katy Naylor, the author of Stovetop Ghosts, and how it relates to this review in a way that is peripherally about the book; for more direct commentary see part 2, or for a summary, part 3

A part of what makes up friendship is shared experiences. We were there together and this thing happened, involving us. It’s not the only element and maybe not even absolutely necessary. Still, going through something with someone can make a bond. Online friendships are trickier; still, things happen and the people we met online were there with us. And now we have something in common.

Another thing about maintaining a friendship is to know the limits. When not to push. Not to get caught up on things that don’t matter. So when Katy described Stovetop Ghosts, a secular devotional book of poems about domestic life with small children I thought, doesn’t sound like my kind of thing. Easier all around if I just pass this one by, let our friendship – centred as it is about writing things and reading things – go on elsewhere.

Bear Creek was an online magazine of strange and weird things, masquerading as the newspaper of a strange, weird and fictional town. It was also a small press, and then one day the guy who ran it gave up on it all and it ended.

And Bear Creek was also a scene, made up of those of us living in the penumbra of the fictional town, writers, readers, illustrators, creators of various odd things. It was where Katy and I met. And when Bear Creek went away…

Well that’s no reason to give up on all the things that we built in that fictional town. Stovetop Ghosts doesn’t sound like my kind of thing? I read and watch and listen and experience things that don’t sound like my kind of thing all the time. Katy publishes things that aren’t my thing in her zine of interactive arts and that’s not a great reason to avoid them. So I don't. Learning why they’re not my kind of thing is useful and valuable. And sometimes, maybe there's something there that can be my kind of thing.

To cut a long story short I bought Stovetop Ghosts, even though it didn’t sound like my kind of thing, because the thing that started us being friends went away and that makes it even more important to support each other and strengthen the things that we have in common. The author’s note says “Stovetop Ghosts is Katy’s third published chapbook, and one that contains much of her heart. Be gentle with it,” so if I hate the book I will keep my damn mouth shut. Because that’s what a friend would do.

2. An actual review of Stovetop Ghosts

This is a book of hours, a secular version of meditations on the monastic hours that indicate religious services. In the same way that monks would structure their lives and work around these times, this book mirrors it with the rhythm of domestic life. A domestic life that revolves around a small child

The poems are all addressed to “you,” the child. Lauds is dawn and a memory of another time and how that hour changes when a child is present.  Matins revolves around breakfast with a note that “My better self is clear as glass,” and it turns out as fragile too. And then cooking, it is imperfect and a mother’s disapproval can be felt, and then our child’s delight when it is served. “Maybe, sometimes, this is enough.”

Terce is mid-morning and we go to the sea, and the sea is empty and full, overwhelming and tempting. But we, the child, are there. Something else than the universe-filling sea. Sext is noon still by the sea, a moment’s respite. Looking for the kraken, ready to send up a flare. Nones there is a walk inspecting every plant and oddity.

In Vespers we are told that we, the child are starting to anchor ourselves in time. That we know that this is a stage. Like the hours of the day, the years of our lives turn, the same and changing. Compline at night returns to the theme that’s hidden and revealed. That for all the child is dependent on the parent, it’s the child that saves the parent, that gives them their life.

Some of these I experienced as shattering handfuls of words poured into my churning mind, sharing events that happened months and years ago - or only in our heads. Some of them as just, you know, an interesting thing that was written. Some of it was my thing as it turns out, and that’s good. And the things that weren’t my thing? They’re good too.

Part 3, tl;dr

Read This: An unflinching look at the doubt and strangeness of parenting
Don’t Read This: It doesn’t sound like your kind of thing
Disclosure: Katy has published me in her interactive arts zine Voidspace, also everything in part 1
You Can Buy It: At this link; if you're in the UK and want to contact Katy (perhaps through Voidspace?) she has copies.