Past the streaked poison petal, strange of name,
Past cups and hanging bells, past wild or tame
Sun-yellow, past bright blue that goes to bed --
Past all of these with whom delight has wed
Since the first dawn moved any to exclaim,
Earth's kingdoim loves its leaves..........................................
A portion of "Leaves", by Mark Van Doren, Collected and New Poems, 1924-1963
I promised myself & Annie Dillard I would try to be there...........................
I should have said, and will say now................
In 1974 I read the review of a book by a first time author... and did something I'd never done before...
I asked the owner of the little bookstore I liked to order the book.
I'm still glad I did.
This should explain..............
"About five years ago I saw a mockingbird make a straight vertical descent from the roof gutter of a four-story building. It was an act as careless and spontaneous as the curl of a stem or the kindling of a star.
The mockingbird took a single step into the air and dropped. His wings were still folded against his sides as though he were singing from a limb and not falling, accelerating thirty-two feet per second per second, through empty air. Just a breathe before he would have been dashed to the ground, he unfurled his wings with exact, deliberate care, revealing the broad bars of white, spread his elegant, white-banded tail, and so floated onto the grass. I had just rounded a corner when his insouciant step caught my eye; there was no one else in sight. The fact of his free-fall was like the old philosophical conundrum about the tree that falls in the forest. The answer must be, I think, that beauty and grace are performed whether or not we will or sense them. The least we can do is try to be there." Annie Dillard, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, pg. 7-8
John, what a precious reference. I too read Pilgrim at Tinker Creek in 1974 while on a solo multi-month journey around the US in my VW bug with a sleeping bag and a pup tent, in which I read Dillard's masterpiece after dark with a flashlight. I was equally mesmerized by her exquisite eye for detail and the poetry of her language. Recently I've checked the shelves of my favorite used book shops looking for a copy to reread, but no success. I confess to having had some ambivalence, afraid that the book that so captivated me in my early 20s might not equally appeal 50 years later. Your excerpt has persuaded me to set that fear aside. Thank you. 💚
