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Poverty Creek Journal
"That rush in between when it all comes undone. Knowing its edge like your own pulse and breathing. As I knew them this morning, racing a 10K in late-spring heat, the taste of panic in the last two miles as everything slipped away, losing time and barely finishing. A tingling in my limbs as if I were driving on ice, the road beneath me suddenly gone, the feeling of that in my hands. Deeper than words, being lost for a moment and then being done. Left with a pounding, stiff-legged stagger."
Spiritual improvisations, radiant acts of attention: echoing Thoreau's Walden, the meditations of Guy Davenport, and Kenny Moore's groundbreaking articles for Sports Illustrated, Thomas Gardner strides through inner and outer landscapes. Freed by disciplined effort, the runner's mind here roams and mourns and remembers.
Spiritual improvisations, radiant acts of attention: echoing Thoreau's Walden, the meditations of Guy Davenport, and Kenny Moore's groundbreaking articles for Sports Illustrated, Thomas Gardner strides through inner and outer landscapes. Freed by disciplined effort, the runner's mind here roams and mourns and remembers.
54 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2014
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 59 reviews
February 5, 2024
This is an amazing, unique, and intimate little book. Writer and prof Thomas Gardner kept a running journal through 2012, the year his brother died unexpectedly, and "Poverty Creek Journal" includes 52 of those entries, somewhere between prose & poetry, about running, writing, grief, nature, and more. In the introduction to the 10-yr anniversary edition, Lisa McInerney writes, "It’s easy to ascribe to fate finding the right book at the right time––the book that answers the question that’s been needling. But I think, instead, we’re drawn to specific topics, experiences or accounts; that finding the right book is an active event, rather than circumstance. We pick from the shelf the book that demands our attention. We open the page that we want to read." I mean!!! There were so many shockingly beautiful reflections on life and love, crystalline sentences of nature writing... short and sweet (and sad), will reread often.
June 27, 2015
Books about running rarely take on a literary cast, but Poverty Creek Journal does by stepping past the memoir, the how-to, and fiction to find room to introspect along the run. Set forth in short vignettes, Thomas Gardner explores the nature of both his environment and his running through a perceptive lens.
Most of the runs hark back to the trails around Blacksburg, Virginia, with excursions to the Outer Banks. The inner journey travels greater distances, from the joy of the run, the death of a brother, the joy of a daughter taking flight. At each stop, we get a taste of the outer, “Six miles, 41 degrees,” and the inner, “Something was waiting for me down there. All spring, I heard is calling me. Loafe with me on the grass . . . loose the stop from your throat.”
The last part is an allusion to Whitman’s Song of Myself. Gardner, a Professor of Literature at Virginia Tech, sprinkles his work liberally with the wisdom of the poet brought to the act of running. The mix is intriguing and provocative. Whitman gets a share of attention, and Dickinson, and Thoreau, Frost, Melville.
Gardner uses the daily run to challenge you to look below the surface as he does when running with Lasse Viren. He describes the scene, with Viren “even walking he was almost dancing . . . composing the trail.” Similar imagery threads through the pages, illuminating the passive and active, the nature of the ice on the pond or the sight of his daughter running away from him at the end of a run.
Picture please, George Sheehan finishing a run and finding Henry Thoreau waiting. The two would sit and converse, compare points, probably long into night.
If one or the other were to write a volume of that conversation, it would resemble Poverty Creek Journal. The words written within its pages are less about the run itself than the essence of running. For Thomas Gardner, the path to the truth of the run lay outside the books on mechanics and pacing, or the truths in John Parker’s (or my) fiction, hidden in plain view if one knew where to look—and dared to.
Most of the runs hark back to the trails around Blacksburg, Virginia, with excursions to the Outer Banks. The inner journey travels greater distances, from the joy of the run, the death of a brother, the joy of a daughter taking flight. At each stop, we get a taste of the outer, “Six miles, 41 degrees,” and the inner, “Something was waiting for me down there. All spring, I heard is calling me. Loafe with me on the grass . . . loose the stop from your throat.”
The last part is an allusion to Whitman’s Song of Myself. Gardner, a Professor of Literature at Virginia Tech, sprinkles his work liberally with the wisdom of the poet brought to the act of running. The mix is intriguing and provocative. Whitman gets a share of attention, and Dickinson, and Thoreau, Frost, Melville.
Gardner uses the daily run to challenge you to look below the surface as he does when running with Lasse Viren. He describes the scene, with Viren “even walking he was almost dancing . . . composing the trail.” Similar imagery threads through the pages, illuminating the passive and active, the nature of the ice on the pond or the sight of his daughter running away from him at the end of a run.
Picture please, George Sheehan finishing a run and finding Henry Thoreau waiting. The two would sit and converse, compare points, probably long into night.
If one or the other were to write a volume of that conversation, it would resemble Poverty Creek Journal. The words written within its pages are less about the run itself than the essence of running. For Thomas Gardner, the path to the truth of the run lay outside the books on mechanics and pacing, or the truths in John Parker’s (or my) fiction, hidden in plain view if one knew where to look—and dared to.
December 4, 2016
This slim volume of year-2012 journal entries by a Virginia Tech English professor is poetic and dramatic, with reference to tragic events both large and small.
Readers should be aware that this book focuses on running. So it is much more highly recommended for runners or athletes than those without athletic interest. Runners in particular will understand the language of "hill repeats" "tempo runs," etc.
Readers should be aware that this book focuses on running. So it is much more highly recommended for runners or athletes than those without athletic interest. Runners in particular will understand the language of "hill repeats" "tempo runs," etc.
November 15, 2017
A beautiful meditation on running, nature and grief.
September 20, 2019
Very short volume -- can easily be read in one sitting. I'll probably reread it this weekend. The "journal" consists of 52 entries, all of them not quite essay, not quite poem. An added bonus: The author is an English professor at Virignia Tech in my home state. I'm going to guess this is a book only a liberal arts college English major could love, and it probably doesn't have wide appeal. But if you enjoy quiet, considered reflections on life, nature, and running, you may like this.
December 30, 2015
Sources
1. Emily Dickinson, "A little east of Jordan"
2. Walt Whitman, "Song of Myself," section 5
4. Elizabeth Bishop, "Poem"
6. Elizabeth Bishop, "The Man-Moth"
7. Henry David Thoreau, Walden, "SPring"
11. Oliver Sacks, A Leg to Stand On
12. Robert Frost, "Spring Pools"
13. Wallace Stevens, "Final Soliloquy of the Interior Paramour"
14. John 3:8
15. Virginia Woolf, Mrs. Dalloway
16. Elizabeth Bishop, "Cape Breton"
17. Wallace Stevens, "The Idea of Order at Key West"
19. Emily Dickinson, "When Bells stop ringing --Church--begins;" "At Half-past Three"
20. Henry David Thoreau, Walden, "The Ponds"
22. Robert Frost, "Birches"
24. Emily Dickinson, "There's a certain slant of light"
25. HDT, Walden, "Solitude"
26. Kenny Moore, Best Efforts: World Class Runners and Races
27. Ezra Pound, Canto LXXXI
29. Walt Whitman, Song of Myself, Section 28
30. Susan Howe, The Birth Mark: unsettling the wildness in American literary history; Georges Marsden, Jonathan Edwards: A Life
31. Emily Dickinson, "I see thee better--in the Dark"
32. Jonathan Edwards, "The Spider Letter"
33. Robert Irwin, in Lawrence Weschler, Seeing is Forgetting the Name of the Thing One Sees
35. Seamus Heaney, The Government of the Tongue
36. Emily Dickinson, "Don't put up my Thread & Needle"
39. Simone Weil, "Reflections on the Right Use of School Studies with a View to the Love of God," and "Attention and Will"
40. Wallace Stevens, "The Plain Sense of Things,"; Genesis 1:8
42. Walt Whitman, "Preface" to Leaves of Grass
44. Herman Melville, Moby Dick, "The Mast-Head"
46. Emily Dickinson, "A Light Exists in Spring"
47. Stanley Cavell, "Thinking of Emerson"
48. Justin Kaplan, Walt Whitman: A Life; Walt Whitman: A Sight in Camp in the Daybreak Gray and Dim"
49. Emily Dickinson, "On a Columnar Self --"; Wallace Stevens, "Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird"
50. James Wright, "To a Blossoming Pear Tree"; H.D. "Sea Violet"
52. Ludwig Wittgenstein, Philosophical Investigations, Part I, 107.
1. Emily Dickinson, "A little east of Jordan"
2. Walt Whitman, "Song of Myself," section 5
4. Elizabeth Bishop, "Poem"
6. Elizabeth Bishop, "The Man-Moth"
7. Henry David Thoreau, Walden, "SPring"
11. Oliver Sacks, A Leg to Stand On
12. Robert Frost, "Spring Pools"
13. Wallace Stevens, "Final Soliloquy of the Interior Paramour"
14. John 3:8
15. Virginia Woolf, Mrs. Dalloway
16. Elizabeth Bishop, "Cape Breton"
17. Wallace Stevens, "The Idea of Order at Key West"
19. Emily Dickinson, "When Bells stop ringing --Church--begins;" "At Half-past Three"
20. Henry David Thoreau, Walden, "The Ponds"
22. Robert Frost, "Birches"
24. Emily Dickinson, "There's a certain slant of light"
25. HDT, Walden, "Solitude"
26. Kenny Moore, Best Efforts: World Class Runners and Races
27. Ezra Pound, Canto LXXXI
29. Walt Whitman, Song of Myself, Section 28
30. Susan Howe, The Birth Mark: unsettling the wildness in American literary history; Georges Marsden, Jonathan Edwards: A Life
31. Emily Dickinson, "I see thee better--in the Dark"
32. Jonathan Edwards, "The Spider Letter"
33. Robert Irwin, in Lawrence Weschler, Seeing is Forgetting the Name of the Thing One Sees
35. Seamus Heaney, The Government of the Tongue
36. Emily Dickinson, "Don't put up my Thread & Needle"
39. Simone Weil, "Reflections on the Right Use of School Studies with a View to the Love of God," and "Attention and Will"
40. Wallace Stevens, "The Plain Sense of Things,"; Genesis 1:8
42. Walt Whitman, "Preface" to Leaves of Grass
44. Herman Melville, Moby Dick, "The Mast-Head"
46. Emily Dickinson, "A Light Exists in Spring"
47. Stanley Cavell, "Thinking of Emerson"
48. Justin Kaplan, Walt Whitman: A Life; Walt Whitman: A Sight in Camp in the Daybreak Gray and Dim"
49. Emily Dickinson, "On a Columnar Self --"; Wallace Stevens, "Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird"
50. James Wright, "To a Blossoming Pear Tree"; H.D. "Sea Violet"
52. Ludwig Wittgenstein, Philosophical Investigations, Part I, 107.
July 23, 2016
I wanted to love this book but it didn't live up to my expectations. I admired his making art of something so banal as a training log, but the entries were littered with sentence fragments from the likes of Emily Dickinson, Walt Whitman, and Henry David Thoreau. I've read these writers, but I'm not as keen a student of American literature to know their works intimately and recognize the full meaning of how their ideas sing with his. I would have appreciated more explanations (and at 52 pages, the book could stand to be lengthened). IMO, many of the more powerful entries were the longer ones, when he took his time and described scenes and memories in more detail.
That said, what he does well is capture weakness in us that running exposes: "the look on her face when she was passed in the home stretch, as if some invisible current was sucking her out to sea," "the taste of panic in the last two miles as everything slipped away," "your heart rate rises, your concentration buckles, and you're suddenly flailing around inside, with no landmark save for a familiar hatred of yourself and the ego that made you line up and race. You slow down and turn on yourself." Often running books dwell on glory, but this one, refreshingly, wrestles with grief, failure, and fading.
That said, what he does well is capture weakness in us that running exposes: "the look on her face when she was passed in the home stretch, as if some invisible current was sucking her out to sea," "the taste of panic in the last two miles as everything slipped away," "your heart rate rises, your concentration buckles, and you're suddenly flailing around inside, with no landmark save for a familiar hatred of yourself and the ego that made you line up and race. You slow down and turn on yourself." Often running books dwell on glory, but this one, refreshingly, wrestles with grief, failure, and fading.
September 25, 2016
A meditative book about running, by an English professor at Virginia Tech who is also the dad of one of my high school classmates (who herself is name-checked a couple of times). (Check out my own dad's name in the acknowledgements!) Poverty Creek is a place I used to go on hikes as a kid. The book is mostly not about running per se, but about the stuff the author thinks about when he's running, and about his observations of the natural world as well. It's a very brief book, but one I enjoyed reading a lot. Gardner makes pretty frequent allusions to literature, mostly to stuff I haven't read, but he does it in a way that makes it understandable even so. His writing is quite lyrical, but doesn't come across as forced or pretentious. It was sort of next door to reading poetry, which I appreciated as someone who wouldn't generally pick up and read a book of poetry.
January 5, 2016
This is unlike any other writing on running that I've ever encountered. To categorize it as a memoir seems misleading. Gardner writes like a painter, citing dabs of paint, distances between flowers, and the breaking points of muscles. He suggests a kind of literacy of running, an organic formalism, maybe--a way of discerning actual land-marks and self-boundaries--that feels gentle and profound.
June 16, 2016
Absolutely beautiful prose. Easy to read, but I found myself hanging on nearly every entry.
May 16, 2016
This tiny thing I will revisit again and again.
April 17, 2024
Poverty Creek Journal, by Virginia Tech English professor Thomas Gardner, is a compilation of the author’s short journal entries from a single calendar year, January through December. The entries are poetic and meditative, anchored by Gardner’s reflections on his daily runs near Blacksburg, whether that be lyrical descriptions of the trail and surrounding landscape through the seasons, the psychological experience of being while running, or his thoughts and musings while on these runs. The news of the unexpected death of Gardner’s brother early in the year colors many of these ruminations, as he grapples with grief. Gardner is a gorgeous writer, and his reflections on running connected with me particularly, causing me to think more deeply about my own relationships with and experience while running and inspiring a stronger appreciation for the degree to which my running habit enriches my experience as a human being. I recommend Poverty Creek Journal to all readers, but specifically runners, who will find it especially affecting.
January 27, 2022
Following the death of his brother, author Thomas Gardner processes his grief by running the area around where he lives, reminiscing the runs he went on as a child with his brother- high school cross country races and beach runs with their kids. Recounted in sporadic journal entries that would ultimately inspire his moving piece in the Sports Illustrated journal, Gardner writes with the poetic prose that comes from his job as an English teacher and much time spent reading Dickinson.
I enjoyed this book especially as a runner but even simply as a reader. I felt it encompassed everything that I enjoy about running that is often lost in the push to get a fast time, the ability to lose yourself in the movement and set your mind free. But even more so it was written in a thoughtful way that left you pondering the simple things. I recommend this book to those processing grief and athletes who love what they do.
I enjoyed this book especially as a runner but even simply as a reader. I felt it encompassed everything that I enjoy about running that is often lost in the push to get a fast time, the ability to lose yourself in the movement and set your mind free. But even more so it was written in a thoughtful way that left you pondering the simple things. I recommend this book to those processing grief and athletes who love what they do.
April 25, 2024
Simple premise: English professor is a dedicated amateur runner, his local haunt are the trails around poverty creek, he writes concise journal reflections of his daily runs from Jan to Dec of 2012. They are never longer than a page each, and they are filled with reverences to Whitman and Dickinson and thoughts of his brother who passed that year. It’s beautiful writing, and meandering like trail running itself.
If I were 10 times more well read, had an ear for poetry and meter, journaled more consistently and especially about my running, and edited out all but the most poignant and wistful passages, I might end up with something resembling poverty creek journal. It’s a short little book (really more a collection of free verse poetry) that inspires me to run more, write more, and read more.
If I were 10 times more well read, had an ear for poetry and meter, journaled more consistently and especially about my running, and edited out all but the most poignant and wistful passages, I might end up with something resembling poverty creek journal. It’s a short little book (really more a collection of free verse poetry) that inspires me to run more, write more, and read more.
October 8, 2023
"A hard rain last night, some thunder mixed in, and this morning the sloping parts of the trail a series of dams where the cascading water had pushed before itself waves of needles and duff. Only the lightest of showers now, but I can read where those torrents had scoured the trail. Ten years ago, when Allison ran track, I'd hang over the fence and study her stride--her hands drifting up, her shoulders starting to hunch. When she slowed one night on the far dark turn, I knew what she was saving herself for. But that's not it. Go deeper. There was something last night in the sound of the rain--Allison's last race, trying to qualify for State. The look on her face when she was passed in the home stretch, as if some invisible current were sucking her out to sea. I've never known how to describe this. I suddenly found myself outside myself, no memory of being swept out and over the fence. Her heaving shoulders, the two of us crying, stock-still in the roar and foam. The shore at best a distant gleam, gulls in the wind, their voices high and torn."
October 12, 2018
I love reading other runner’s training journals. I really like when they share details of their runs, and even more what their minds wander to while they are running. But.... what in the hell is this? How did this get published? I’ve seriously read friend’s running journals written decades before I ever knew them that were more poetic, interesting, and compelling... I want more books to be published that combine running journals with literary thoughts that runners have while running... but good grief what is this book?
March 27, 2024
i really wanted to LOVE this because the bookshop cashier was raving about when i set it down on his counter and then all his bookshop friends joined in too and I thought “great! sounds like a guaranteed WIN!” but unfortunately i just didn’t love it as much as i’d hoped and been led to believe :( definitely impressively written, definitely unique, just also a bit directionless? maybe that was the point? perhaps this needs a revisit another time…
June 25, 2017
Running can become much more than exercise. Poverty Creek Journal is a highly personal and poetic running log, which is the kind of book that the author is uniquely suited to write. He is an avid runner and English professor. For me, the connections between daily running entries and literary references did not resonate with my own experiences as a runner and avid reader.
July 6, 2022
This was a lovely, slim volume. A beautiful collection of journal entries, grounded in the practice of running, as well as the practice of poetry, of literature. It deals with grief, with the transient and transcendent nature of the self beautifully.
January 1, 2024
Parts of this were beyond my grasp, some due to my own illiteracy but what pieces I could engage with were rewarding. It is a short read but calls me to slow down, observe, consider, and “be where my feet are” so to speak.
March 1, 2024
very light and descriptive journaling of the author running alongside beautiful landscapes, evoking literature, memories, thoughts related to grief and other life's events.
beautiful and motivational towards a daily exercise routine.
beautiful and motivational towards a daily exercise routine.
March 11, 2024
A perfect testimony of what happens when you run - meditation, observation - I would have liked longer chapters but I really enjoyed it. Running and poetry is not an obvious combination but he made it very well.
July 3, 2017
The abstract and random thoughts of runners in the poetic prose of an English professor. It will likely be worth a second read to fully enjoy some of the journal entries.
December 25, 2018
Short essays in journal form but really beautifully written.
December 30, 2018
Beautiful. Running as a metaphor for life. It’s been done before, but his language is gorgeously lyrical and inspiring.
January 13, 2020
A really delightful collection of meditations whilst running. Thoughtful, touching and in part poetic. I enjoyed it immensely. A publication you can return to and receive different thoughts from.
June 4, 2020
2019: 40
June 16, 2020
A beautiful ode to the power of running.
November 11, 2023
“As if in them spirit caught a glimpse of itself, paused and bent down in wonder.” A gorgeous year of reflections in and through running.
March 28, 2024
A runners journal, working through grief and loss over the course of a year, attentive to landscape and weather, infused with a love of poetry.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 59 reviews