Showing posts with label Gerard Manley Hopkins. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Gerard Manley Hopkins. Show all posts

Saturday, May 10, 2008

Mister Death

My little dog always barks at this old man in the neighborhood. I don't know why, perhaps he threatens her in some way- he probably smells scary to her.
I went to San Luis Obispo last week to attend the opening of my show at the SLO Art Center. As part of the event, I was interviewed by Crissa Hewitt, an artist and radio show host, for the local NPR affiliate- KCBX. The podcast of the interview can be downloaded here
I have been thinking a lot about Gerard Hopkin's "the Windhover" lately. I remember how forcefully this work struck me when I first discovered it some thirty years ago. I'm not sure if it is completly wonderful (I could do without the last six lines- but I seem to connect with the first eight lines at a very deep level.) I think this poem is about the beginning of the end. The silence in it is miraculous. For me, it explains the duality of existential lonliness versus un-self-conscious exhiliration and transformation. Despite the looming futility of all this, everything is O.K.