Swedish Sleds

Abstract

Swedish Sleds Sascha Feinstein (bio) Two boys slid down a hill and one crossed a road that defined their small town by the mere lack of traffic, a road twisting through the bypass before plunging down- country. People talked of the road for months before it was built: less time to go North, but who leaves anymore? Two boys slid down a hill, and neither heard or saw the logging truck, and the one who slid between the axles— my uncle—grew up to praise luck, to fear Scandinavian fate, Thor's fierce hammer, that bolt of destiny executing delirious youth. Sixty years later, he can't quote his best friend's last words— "I'll cross the road before you"—without a shot glass of chilled aquavit. Sascha Feinstein Sascha Feinstein won the Hayden Carruth Award for his poetry collection Misterioso. He has published two critical books, Jazz Poetry: From the 1920s to the Present and, as coeditor with Yusef Komunyakaa, The Jazz Poetry Anthology and its companion volume, The Second Set. His next book, Ask Me Now: Conversations on Jazz & Literature, will be published later in the year by Indiana University Press. He codirects the creative writing program at Lycoming College in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, and edits Brilliant Corners: A Journal of Jazz & Literature, which he founded ten years ago. Copyright © 2007 The Curators of the University of Missouri