Rockpeople Book Review

Ledor Igboh, University of Minnesota
November 11, 2006

Inuit – Inuksuit: Man of the stone pointing the way telling small truths.

Rockpeople is a compilation of short and concise thoughts that draw toward a common center; the conjunction of art and nature. It is yet another form of expression that presents an unsuspecting dispensation of small doses of wisdom. This book is a byproduct of the rock people of Chester Creek of Duluth. MN, and the shores of Lake Superior.

If one were to walk along the creek in Duluth, you would be sure to come across a rock structure built by Joel Carter. They have taken up residence there and are a contribution to a powerful art form and indices’ of balance and control. If not to the residence of Chester Creek, they represent these things to the author.

The intricacies of transformation is vastly prevalent through out the pieces of poetry in this text, especially in the lives and identities in the rock structures that are beside each work; their emotional states, how both art forms are a product of themselves, and most importantly the verbal exchange that takes place between them. Although there is no particular ritual in the building of each structure, there is a specificity that is nourished when the rocks are built.

Each stone is aim fully placed, yet the stability of the rocks depend solely on the moment and what nature or the universe allows to happen. It also becomes evident in the text that art serves as a point of reference or a creative avenue that is used to access the core of our beings, mirrored with poetry, and that it is not merely a nostalgic product of human frailty.

Dr. Carter is reluctant to consider his work poetry; he considers the collection to be a compilation of thoughts and free associations of his life’s journey. He would also like to think of these thoughts as short wisdom, and a likeness to the art of story people. Using short pieces of writing to mirror art created from his surrounding and an attempt to tell his small truths by reaching into the deep places or “broken places” of things that are bottled up. Dr. Carter would add that “….One of the benefits of having to go through darkness is having little wisdoms to share through writing, creating a kind of testimony of his life and the resurfacing of a new method of thinking and practicing life.”

There are many rock people out there, inspiring people in different ways, but it is manifested through him in his writing. There is more than one creative self present when he works with rocks, and he has learned to respect each vice. As a writer, Dr Carter fosters no attachments to the rocks after he builds them, because he knows that they will eventually be taken down by people who walk by - as there had been some talk of disturbing nature by building rock; Instead he uses the rocks as a tool in his writing. As we know, writing is the art of experience; it is the product of our lives directly or indirectly. Some writers feel that it is a responsibility that one takes upon them to translate their surroundings or identities through words, creatively or technically.

Dr. Joel Carter’s history and national identity serves as a strong source of inspiration to begin building rock people and eventually the art of translate them into writing. One of Dr Carters “broken places” is in Treblinka, Poland where the extermination camps of some 800,000 Jews perished including his grandmother, and possibly his grandfather is located. He recently visited this place and was “moved by the expansive field overflowing with upright stones and rocks”. This experience and the reconnection to his Jewish roots began to pull on his soul to build rock people, in the prayer that he will continue to find his way.

This journey seems important to the process of healing, which is evident in the progression of the poems in Rockpeople. Each connecting his art and writing to his ancestral roots, subtly noting the turning points in his life, and insights about the importance of relationships. As readers we can take from them what we need to focus our own personal journeys, we try to experience the rocks and learn from them as Dr. Carter models.

As per a complete work, the poems in Rockpeople like the rocks structures become done when they feel done. In a sense the structures form themselves – some are willing and some aren’t depending on the technical balances of complicated structures. The process of creating is modeled after what surrounds him and what is inside of him. There is only so much one can do systematically when writing and this process should never be forced. The same practice is true for the naming of a complete piece. In every aspect of the work, there is a goal in mind. In this particular technique the author actively mirrors his insides, his social stability, and turns a spirit of wounded-ness into something useful through the names of each structure, exercising his ‘author – rity’ as an author by taking initiatives that life give us through language and life lessons.

In the author’s words, “These rockpeople have taught me the art of balance, form and structure. Their ephemeral nature has taught me the Buddhist concept of non attachment and the healing salve of creativity.”

It is then sound to infer that the feeling of instability and loss of focus are perpetuated sometimes due to the fact that some of us are reluctant to admit the similarities that we find, most times out of fear and others due to out lack of ‘words’ to impart those fears. It is sometimes in these circumstances that the healing power of words come in to play. One of the lessons that Rockpeople indirectly teach is that the healing process does not have to be a complicated one, as with your words, it can be something as simple as a line or two. What matters most is that when you write you able to do justice to the situations and experience that is specific you.

One of many lessons that I gathered from the small text is this that our words are a definition of our creative selves, and we would be remiss not to pay attention to its qualities and active role in defining and situating our current national identities. One can only hope that writers will continue to depict the hard truth of present circumstances, our idle bodies, our socially contrived minds and our conscious driven selves, in our near and far surroundings.