Hey, kids, we’ve got a treat coming up tomorrow: some writing from my dear wife & better half, Eberle Umbach. Back in 2000-2001 Eberle kept a journal of lists & short prose pieces that she compiled into The Weiser River Pillow Book. Generous excerpts from this work were published in the anthology, In Pieces, by Impassio Press in 2006.
Eberle acknowledges using The Pillow Book of Sei Shōnagon as a model for her own work. The Pillow Book of Sei Shōnagon, written at the end of the 10th century & beginning of the 11th, is considered a classic of Japanese literature. Sei Shōnagon was a lady to the Imperial Court of Empress Sadako, & her writing is made up of lists & observations, written in a lyrical & contemplative style. Eberle’s journal recorded a full year (not a calendar year, but a full cycle from one October to the next. Her journal records her thoughts & impressions, & also chronicles life in a rather dilapidated 80-year-old farmhouse in very rural Idaho. As much as we loved our old house, winters there could be challenging.
I’m excited to post excerpts from The Weiser River Pillow Book on Robert Frost’s Banjo; more installments will follow throughout next year. Thanks, Eberle, for sharing your work with us!
Be sure to check in tomorrow morning for a wintery excerpt from The Weiser River Pillow Book!
Pic of Eberle was taken by Mike Nourse
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