The Problem is the Solution

I just came across a great example of the permaculture principle, "the problem is the solution," while reading the magazine "Poets & Writers" this afternoon. Johnny Temple, the founder of indie press Akashic Books (publisher of my friend T Cooper's Some of the Parts), in addressing the sentiment expressed by the writer Paul Theroux that writer's today are being bullied into publicly prostituting themselves to sell books (or to get published in the first place), sees this as an opportunity for writers to regain creative control over their work, and to reach non-traditional audiences as they self-promote their work outside the literary community.

I certainly found this to be the case with my book of poems Siren. Of course I always dreamed of winning some award and having my name in Poets & Writers, but if that had been the case, I doubt if the wide variety of people in my community who read my book (carpenters, mothers, a professional golf caddy, my landlords, local assorted drunks, landscapers--all sorts of people who don't normally read poetry, let alone purchase a book, read my book, and judging by their feedback, were genuinely affected by it.) So--my problem of not being able to attract a publisher, was resolved by the solution of self-publishing, which had an even more satisfying result, one which is the underlying intent of permaculture--community-building.

Indeed, in ancient times the poet, was "the poet," the person who spoke for the community. (This idea came to me through the sublime Joy Harjo--please read her.) In fact, many scholars believe that Homer was an identity given to the poets who put together what we know as The Odyssey (many also believe that Homer was a woman). Poetry didn't move out of the realm of the oral until the invention of the printing press in the 14th century, from whence comes our first great "author," Geoffrey Chaucer, of The Canterbury Tales. Indeed, what we consider Standard English, was one of many dialects in use in England at the time Chaucer was writing. The Canterbury Tales were so popular as a written text that Chaucer's dialect (I believe it was East Wessex, although my academic memory has been growing dimmer) is the one from which modern English descended. In the 14th century, the standardization of the English language was a useful tool in community building, as the peasant class, speakers of the English vernacular, strove to define themselves against the French speaking Norman invaders who ruled Britain at the time.

My question is, does the insistence on literature which follows the rules and regulations of standard English best serve the creative spirit of building community? In my opinion, no. Remember reading Huck Finn in high school? Certainly not written in standard English, Twain's masterpiece is considered to be one of the greatest books in American literature, a book that helped our young nation define itself. There are many other works from the African-American literary tradition written in dialect that also fall into this category. Cane, by Jean Toomer, comes to mind, while in more recent times we have Alice Walker's The Color Purple.

When I lived in Hawaii, my boyfriend there told me of being ridiculed by the teachers for speaking pidgin. He, and most locals, grew up speaking two languages--standard English at school, and pidgin at home. I was amazed at how quickly he switched back and forth between the two, and knew that I had crossed under an invisible barrier when he let his guard down and began to speak pidgin to me.

Today in Hawaii there is a literary movement of writers who speak in pidgin, forming community around the language that they invented together out of the many cultural backgrounds which make up the modern day Hawaiian community. If you want to read an example of this, check out the books of Lois-Ann Yamanaka (Saturday Night at the Pahala Theater, Wild Meat & The Bully Burgers, Blu's Hanging, and Heads by Harry, her more recent book Father of the Four Passages uses more standard English than pidgin. She is one of my favorite writers! The point I am trying to make here, is that the local Hawaiian writers saw there was a problem--standard English --(the language of their oppressors) didn't reflect their lives. In fact, by using it, they were in some ways, agreeing to the contract their colonizers had set out for them, a contract which obviously no one asked them to sign. I know firsthand the degradation of spirit this collusion with their colonizers created in many local Hawaiians, even today. My novel, The Land of Curving Water, which will hopefully be in print soon, deals with this degradation. What was seen as a problem by those in power--(teachers and employers, even tourists who can't understand the pidgin of their trail guides, bartenders, and waiters)--the insistence on locals of speaking pidgin--has blossomed into today's Hawaiian cultural renaissance, complete with a thriving literary culture.

The problem is the solution! Remember that whenever you feel like banging your head against a brick wall in frustration! And remember, permaculture isn't just about agriculture, it is about forming "permanent culture." Human communities that adapt to their surroundings the way a river meanders toward the sea, or the way a weasel's coat changes from brown to white in winter, or the way that a trees branches stretch out to catch the light. Observing the people and place you find yourself in is the key to forming permanent culture, not by preserving it in museums or in a standardized textbook which we call history. So tell your stories in whatever way feels right!