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field, California. One evening, while I was on duty as the barista, we experienced a “rush”
during a time of day that was normally dead. The line of people wanting take-out coffees
stretched nearly out the door.
“Something going on at the college tonight?” I asked a girl on line, while getting the milk
for her cappuccino to foam up.
“Yeah, there's a poetry reading this evening.”
I was curious. I had been to hear distinguished poets like John Berryman and Ann Sexton
read their work while I was at Brandeis, and these were sparsely attending gatherings at a
major university. Now, at the junior college across the street, there was a veritable stam-
pede of poetry lovers looking for parking places.
“Who's the poet?”
“Robert Bly,” she shot back, scanning my face for some sign of recognition.
“You should check him out. He plays the dulcimer while he recites poems. It's amazing.
It's not like a normal poetry reading at all.”
Others on line who overheard our exchange concurred and urged me not to miss it. I
struggled for a moment with the tension between what I felt I should do and what I really
wanted to do. Then I folded up my apron, left our one employee to mind the store, and
walked across the street.
And, so, I discovered Robert Bly and joined the ranks of his many admirers. Better late
than never. Robert recited some of his poems, performed Jack and the Beanstalk for us as a
coming-of-age story, and raved about a new book called
The Dream and The Underworld
by James Hillman that wove together psychology and myth.
On my next trip to BookPeople in Berkeley, where we did much of our wholesale purchas-
ing for the bookstore, I found and bought a copy of Hillman's book.
The Dream and the
Underworld
served as my introduction to the realm of archetypal psychology, and life was
neverthesameafterwards.AlthoughhebeganhiscareerasaJungiananalyst,Hillmantook
Jung's teaching in some fascinating new directions. Over the next few years I made my
way through much of Hillman's work, along with the writings of kindred souls and fellow
travelers like Thomas Moore, Ginette Paris, Rafael Lopez-Pedraza, David Miller and Mary
Watkins.
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