Chapter 12

Hettie signs contract to write proposal for Rita Marley memoir, and goes to Jamaica. At Naropa, Hettie meets Helene’s old friends Lucia Berlin and Jane Wodening Brakhage, suggests that she and Helene visit them, but nothing entices. Hettie confesses she never understood email’s potential for loss, regrets losing some letters. Helene thinks “HD” on her new Mac indicates her own registration—but it’s the hard drive icon; she begins to refer to herself as “Hard Drive.” In SF for ALA Convention, Hettie meets Chan, Helene’s daughter, and Chan’s teacher Robert Hass. At home Hettie worries about teaching “Beat poetry” seminar for PSA in fall. Helene unhappy in her new studio with just one light table, but describes a long walk on Gloucester’s boulevard and a new statue, the Fisherman’s Wife. Hettie goes to London, Paris, and Crete on her first European trip. Helene writes nearly every day, sends all notes via snail.