The Practice of Poetry

Japanese novelist, Haruki Murakami talks about the last twenty-plus years as a writer and marathoner in What I Talk About When I Talk About Running. His memoir discusses his parallel efforts with writing and long distance training, and how they affect one another. The book touches on an interesting question: what life-long habits can help a writer stay balanced, focused and ultimately, prepared for the hard work of writing?

Murkami discusses how writing is difficult mentally and physically (for instance the long periods of being sedantary) and claims that running has helped him train and be an endurance athlete as well as an endurance writer. As interesting as the idea is–the book is a bit boring.

At first, this frustrated me: I was looking for grand insights, or more dramatic examples of how such rigorous physical output increased his creativity in unexpected ways. I was looking for the brainstorms that he had while on mile eighteen. But this didn’t happen. In fact, he admits he doesn’t think about much at all when he runs. He mentions that he runs to counterbalance his love of Dunkin Donuts and his tendancy to gain weight. Ultimately, that is the kernal of wisdom buried in the book: those habits we practice every day–whether it is running like Murakami, or taking daily walks like Mary Oliver, or eating kale and brown rice so we don’t become overwhelmed with physical ailments, those habits are essential, so essential they are often too idosyncratic to be generally applicable to others. I could describe the importance of my daily cup of coffee and bowl of bran twigs to my general digestion, which keeps me focused on the poem on my desk and not on my finicky, sluggish stomach, but, you’d probably tune out pretty quick. In fact, I think you already did.

Murakami’s memoir is fun if you are a marathoner. I enjoyed hearing that in Japan, they give the runners pickled plums instead of GU. I wished for more descriptive moments like this. He is most vivid when he describes the number of roadkill he tallied while he ran through Greece. But, the most helpful thing for the writer-audience is to hear his implicit argument: we have to think carefully about what components keep our brain clear and our body relaxed enough to keep the creative reserves replenished and deep.

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