wendell berry

One more thing before I finish preparing for today (oh man, so much grading to do!). Wendell Berry will be in the city of Salt Lake this Thursday. I've only read a few of his books and essays, but his stuff is pretty amazing. My dad has read loads of his work and he's impressed enough to revere him as a "prophet." My all-time favorite one-liner from him, I think from Jayber Crow, is, "We are eternal beings living in time."

I'm pasting in one of my favorite poems by him followed by another I just discovered. And then I'll tack on the information about his upcoming visit. I'm excited to hear him read and see him in the flesh!


The Peace of Wild Things

When despair grows in me
and I wake in the middle of the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be.
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting for their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world and am free.


A Warning to my Readers

Do not think me gentle
because I speak in praise
of gentleness, or elegant
because I honor the grace
that keeps this world. I am
a man crude as any,
gross of speech, intolerant,
stubborn, angry, full
of fits and furies. That I
may have spoken well
at times, is not natural.
A wonder is what it is.



The info I snagged from KUER's PSAs:

Wallace Stegner Center Symposium, An Evening with Wendell Berry

The farmer and poet Wendell Berry will make a special appearance at Ken Sanders Rare Books, followed by a reading at the Salt Lake Masonic Temple auditorium, Thursday, March 5th (appearance and book signing at Ken Sanders at 5 p.m. and the reading will be held at 6:30 p.m.) as part of the Wallace Stegner Center's symposium on the life and legacy of Wallace Stegner. Ken Sanders Rare Books: 268 South 200 East, SLC; Salt Lake Masonic Temple: 650 East South Temple, SLC. For more information, visit http://www.law.utah.edu/stegner.