In class we have been discussing the idea of the creative essay. Something real told in the form of fiction, with immense detail and imagery. The stories are memories of the authors - they are real, they are things that you can't make up.
Bernard Cooper's Maps to Anywhere is like that. In my mind, the book is merely a series of creative essays - each one with its own title and story. My current favorite is By Any Other Name. This section tells of Cooper's childhood shenanigans with his friends, in which they would prank call names they found in the phonebook. Cooper discusses their obsession with syntax and alliteration - says they were more "poets than pranksters". This, I think, is true of all people. Language is the root of everything - we get a thrill from words being arranged a certain way. Some words sound funny, some sound serious. Most jokes are told with language in mind - there's always a pun or a twisting of words. We are human, and I think humans are poets above all else - even if they don't realize it.
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