Brief essays by New York Times bestselling author Michael Perry on memorials and mercy, storms and farewells, family and fowl, barnyard ballets, the Sunday night sads, the wisdom of roadies, cucumbers and kindness, quotidian asparagus, appropo malaprops, pickleball, sushi boats and weird TV, the poetics of garlic, contrails, Mobius mind-grooves, quietude, Christmas tree injuries, cats, waffle houses, puffy partridges, bonfire bonhomie, dating in a hearse, and more. Gathered from his most recent ‘Roughneck Grace’ columns, this is Michael Perry on: Bad days: ‘First thing I did today was back into the garage door. From the inside.’ Releasing injured birds: ‘Nature gives odds, not insurance.’ Returning home: ‘Like hubcap spinners rotating at a stoplight, the sensation of a road trip lingers, even as we stare at the hearth.’ Contentment: ‘Find your happy place, they say, and so I am cutting up venison in the living room while watching the Packers.’ Daughters dating: ‘…sometimes it’d be nice to have Grandma back, just sitting over there in a rocking chair with her rifle.’ Hope: ‘A pair of wrens whose eggs may not hatch, but proceed as if that is the only outcome.’ Politics: ‘These days asking questions in public is like pulling the toilet handle while standing in the bowl.’ Physical fitness: ‘To say I run like a farmer is to insult a lot of farmers…my form was that of a man jogging while carrying two pails of milk shortly after eating a lard sandwich.’ On children: ‘How many times do we hold our children close under the guise of comforting them when in fact we are clinging to them as if they were the last buoy in a cold sea?’ Peaceful Persistence picks up where the three other collections (Roughneck Grace, From the Top, and Million Billion) left off, and includes columns originally published between April 2018 and March 2020.
Cuprins
Preface
Flat Tire
Millionaire
The Bad Day
Window Robin
Wren House
Good-Bye Goldie
Wren House Part Two
Lucky Day
Weird Television
Quotidian Asparagus
Wisco Loop
Northern Memorial
Wren Hatch
Sunday Night Sads
Roughneck Revelations
Garlic In
Appropo Malaprops
First Hearse Date
Wildlife Census
North Shore
Perpetual Portrait
Nanette
Memory Hole
Butterfly Chickens
Storm Song
Montaigne And Mercy
Dump Rake Halloween
Barnyard Ballet
Garlic Again
Sticky Drum
Dad Suit
Big Buck
Wedding Dance
Sausage Time
The Piano Tuner
Contrails
Christmas Tree Injury
Faux Fox
Auditions
Eclipse
Garden Master
Safe Travels
Crowdsourced Truck Repair
The Age Of Pickleball
Gotta Guy
Shoveling Snow With Edith Wharton
Snowshoes
Waffle Kettle
Customer Service
Character Test
Cellphone Connection
Roadworthy
Biosphere
Tiny House Marriage Encounter
Spring Noise
Inner Peace And Lemmy
Puffed-Up Partridge
Apple Blossoms
Tiny Dancers
Homebound Van
Chicken In The Night
Vulnerability
Fireflies Again
Gardening
The Bug Is Back
Talent Contest
Picking Berries
Greg Brown (One More Time)
Cucumbers
Plum Effect
Monarchs
The Rhyme
Paean
Bonfire Stories
Ol’ Waylon
Loner
Three Bucks
Sleet Warning
Guy Discount
Story Time
Hotel Review
Getting Dizzy
Kindling
Dance Party
The Good People
Christmas Lists
Chickens Back On Board
Packers Go Bye
World Events
Old Phones
Arizona Lockout
Voltaire Is Dead
Parent Brakes
Niche Joke
Sledding
Dow Wow
Blithe
The Old Stories
The Healing Day
Despre autor
Michael Perry is a New York Times bestselling author, humorist, playwright, and radio show host from New Auburn, Wisconsin. Perry’s bestselling memoirs include Population: 485 (recently adapted for the stage), Truck: A Love Story, Coop, Visiting Tom, and Montaigne in Barn Boots: An Amateur Ambles Through Philosophy. Among his other numerous titles are The Scavengers (for young readers) and his novel The Jesus Cow. He can be found online at www.Sneezing Cow.com