Chickens One Day, Feathers the Next by Guinotte Wise is a delightful journey through the fascinating life of an octogenarian. As a memoir composed of deeply personal essays, Wise reveals he’s had an amazing variety of jobs in his full life, ranging from being a rodeo rider to having his own very successful ad agency, finally settling down with his wife, beloved horses, and very companionable dogs near where he spent some wonderful times as a child. As he says, “Where you live as a child is always a part of you,” words both profound and philosophical.
The book is full of humor, sadness and interesting adventures, trotting back and forth from childhood to old age. The essay from which the book takes its title, Chickens One Day, Feathers the Next, is about life and death, not only as it relates to chickens but to those in Vietnam and elsewhere. Chickens for life, feathers for death is a metaphor for the entire book. Throughout, though, Wise uses essay titles as metaphors to intrigue, tantalize and enlighten.
The book is written in a casual, informal style, easy to read but also erudite. It is also laced with surprising, strange and interesting combinations of phrases like: “it didn’t really dilate my cortex” to describe the Nazi Goring’s art collection or “the scarification of the truth,” referring to the JFK assassination coverup.
Swinging from being young to chronologically mature, Wise constantly refers to books and authors he suggests reading. Humorously he discusses having to do some research himself to find the authors of books he wants to discuss. Whether the subject is gambling or the Manhattan Project, the books mentioned stimulate additional reading and research. The chapter, “Ernest Thompson Seton: Malcolm X, and Me: A Sort of Book Review,” is a marvelous reading list with interesting comments about the various books and authors.” In another one of these stories, “What is it about Montana Writers?” Wise perhaps overdoes this by listing so many writers it seems like filler, or a list of friends. I was pleased that he mentioned J.P. Marquand and The Late George Apley, but that may be because that book looks at class structure in Massachusetts where I was born. Wise also relates the movies that were pertinent to his life and in some cases knew the people involved in creating them.
Throughout the book Wise inserts relevant personal poetry, some which reads like prose poetry. To me, Wise’s strength is in his prose: fascinating descriptions of places, interesting use of word combinations and his masterful way of inserting profound comments into rather humorous stories. In fact, stories go from pathos to humor to philosophy almost seamlessly.
Perhaps the part I most appreciated is that politics are continually laced throughout these essays, not with a sledge hammer but in a way that hopefully will be acceptable to those who disagree with Wise’s progressive thinking. Political ideas appear in stories about motorbikes and horses, boxing, chickens, roosters, robins and dogs, the music scene, rodeos and the ad agency world, as well crisscrossing America sleeping in motels and looking forward to fast-food meals. I especially liked the way the political ramifications were expressed in “Racist by Default” and “Tulsa Day.” Wise is aghast he didn’t know the tragic history of what happened to the black community in Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1921 when a horrific massacre occurred, an event that was either buried or forgotten over time. This reminds me of what happened to the American Japanese during the 1940s when these citizens were forced to sell their property and forcibly incarcerated in detention centers, information that only over time has become more familiar, like the Tulsa Massacre which was even lesser known.
Throughout this book I laughed and some snippets have remained with me. I chuckled when I read his response in “Visualizing: Not a Woo-Woo Science” when asked in a tack store by a lovely young filly, “Can I help you find something?” and the response is: ‘Only my lost youth,’ I thought.” Anyone who is middle aged or more can relate to this poignant sentiment.
Wise is one of those refreshing writers who is not afraid to admit his human frailties and his mistakes. How many writers are so willing to expose themselves so honestly? Wise cries when his beloved animals die, is thrilled when a robin he nursed to adulthood learns to fly and find a mate, and he describes his hurt pride as well as his hurt body when he falls off a bucking bronco. I laughed out loud when he wrote in “Truckers: Earn While You Learn,” about driving a large truck and waving brazenly at the people in the Weigh Station as he whizzed past them, only to have to deal with the serious matter later on. The same behavior seems to be part of Wise’s functioning because as a teenager in, “Rocky and the Rebel Punk” he tries to outrun the police by crossing the state line. When it didn’t work and he was busted, he describes the aftermath in terms anyone who was ever a teenager can identify with.
I heartily recommend Chicken One Day, Feathers the Next,” for all ages because it is a delightful and thought-provoking book about a life well-lived and a hoped-for life still to come. As Guinotte Wise writes in “My Own Small Admissions Scandal,” ‘. . . life itself is an admission process. Many apply, few are chosen. And some of us are rejected daily, regularly. They call us writers.’ Guinotte Wise is a writer well worth reading.