By David Krogh
Portland author and teacher Martha Gies has a new book called Broken Open. Broken Open is an essay collection of unconventional memoir essays along with interview discussions all organized in short story fashion. The memoir segments cover almost the full range of the author’s 80 years with a heavy concentration of her younger years on a farm in the Willamette Valley. And as the name of the book implies, the impressions and feelings of the author literally have “broken open” to be shared with readers.
Gies’ life has been challenging to say the least, what with both parents having drinking problems, her father dying young, a sister dealing with cancer, faith issues, memory loss concerns and more. Over the years, she did farm work, bartended, was a magician’s assistant, activist, student, traveler, teacher and writer. Thanks to the vast variety of her experiences and issues, this compendium of essays is both easy to read and interesting.
It should be noted that there are minor repetitions within some of the essays. To explain this the author stated the memoir essays “are in chronological order as lived; though not necessarily as written.” Gies also clarified her many travels as an adult with “my family was relatively affluent until my father’s death. (See the essay ‘Losing the Farm.’) Subsequently, all of my travels have been done on a shoestring. I left home for the classical reason: after a childhood restricted to rural OR, I wanted to see the world.”
Gies’ involvement with religion and spirituality is of particular interest within the book. Her parents were not religious, yet her paternal grandmother insisted her grandchildren be taken to a Methodist Sunday school every week. “I withdrew at age 12, suspicious that it functioned pretty much as a free babysitting service. Yet, a couple of decades later, I was grateful for having learned all those Bible stories.” Her knowledge into spirituality expanded due to a sister’s struggles with cancer. “For me it was a profound spiritual experience of sustained and unparalleled intensity” (from page 34 of Broken Open). Ultimately, Gies became a Roman Catholic. “In Seattle of the eighties, I discovered Archbishop Raymond Hunthausen, whose gospel values led him to advocate for the poor and protest nuclear weapons. Suddenly, I saw Catholicism in a new light.”
Although religious affiliations have been on the decline in OR, Gies stated, “One need not be religious to be spiritually aware and responsive. That so many people move to OR, having been awed by the beauty of the Gorge, the Pacific coast or the high desert, teaches us that it does not require membership in a church to respond to creation.”
Gies is well read. One of her favorite authors, short story writer and poet Raymond Carver, was also one of her writing instructors. When asked how he influenced her, Gies responded, “As per the essay in the book, ‘Teacher, A Memoir of Raymond Carver,’ when Ray said to me in a critique session, ‘You’re a writer,’ I believed him.” Such encouragement from Carver “cemented my resolve to commit myself to writing. I knew I’d be living poor, but it was precisely my parents’ relative affluence that taught me money does not buy happiness.”
Broken Open is the author’s second book. Her previous was called Up All Night, also a book of essays. “But instead of being about my own life, it consists of profiles of people working graveyard shift. Taken together, they form a portrait of Portland, OR. Both books are generally considered to be creative nonfiction. I also publish short stories and journalism.”
When asked what subjects interest her the most Gies replied, “I like writing about the things I care deeply about, trying to find the most suitable form for the subject. Sooner or later, writers come to understand that passion is needed to motor us through.”
The author retired from teaching in June 2023 after a fruitful workshop at the Umatilla Reservation where she was “deeply moved by the Indians’ sense of sacred duty to look after and preserve their traditional homelands…as for writing, the excitement (or frustration) about whatever I’m working on is generally what gets me out of bed in the morning. I don’t expect to retire.”
Broken Open was launched in September 2024 “at Revolution Hall with 190 people attending.” Gies intends to do readings this spring and dates for these will be announced on her website, marthagies.com.
Broken Open was published by Trail to Table Press with information available at trailtotable.net/broken-open.html#. It is available online and at several local bookstores including Powell’s. However, the author recommends ordering it from Bookshop.org (search “Martha Gies”), which actively supports independent book sellers.
