Jelly Is Where You Find It: A Biographical Anatomy of a Poem

One night, on a whim, Donald Weismann decided to begin typing as fast and for as long as his fingers would allow. Restricting himself not to thinking, figuring out, or correcting what he wrote, Weismann aimed at allowing the language and the machine to carry his words. However, much to his surprise, those fifteen pages became a fantastical journey into the experiences of his past. His poem, "Jelly Was the Word," became inspiration for his autobiography, "Jelly Is Where You Find It." "Jelly Is Where You Find It" stretches across time and distance, following the author on a journey through the United States and Canada, and shows how the people, places and things he encountered shaped his beliefs, his art, and his writing. From hitchhiking in a Rolls Royce to sneaking a ride on a freight train, from the South of the Jim Crow era to the World War II Pacific, from the Great Depression to America’s great universities, "Jelly Is Where You Find It" is an unforgettable tale of growth, learning, and creativity.