Monday, February 23, 2015

Monday Morning with Donald Hall...

One of my favorite poets is Donald Hall. I have always loved his writings in whatever category I could find them. When I worked in an elementary school, I loved sharing his book, Ox Cart Man.
This book resonated so much with me. Perhaps it was because I lived on the farm and I could understand this poignant look at the seasons of the year...of the gratitude of hard work...or the rewards of the labor even if it was just a bag of peppermint candy.

Once I wrote to Hall asking him about his lovely old farmhouse. He wrote back telling me (and the students) that he had several rooms in his house and when he woke in the morning, he would choose which room to write in. Perhaps he felt like poetry...or essays... or fiction. I loved that idea.

I have a wonderful book in my library, Seasons at Eagle Pond. This book was published in 1987 with wood cut illustrations by Thomas W. Nason. My personal copy was actually a gift to my dad in the same year it was published. My inscription reads: Merry Christmas Dad, 1987, from your eldest daughter. After my dad's death most of his books were gifted to me in my own library.

In this Youtube video Hall talks about Things in his life and what might happen to them after his own death. I have also included a small portion of an interview he did with NPR this past winter.
I hope you enjoy both. I would love to hear how Hall has shaped your life.





"I really feel better about aging at the age of 86 than I did at 70. I cannot drive, I can't walk except by pushing a Rollator, but I feel a great deal of energy and excitement. Obviously death is ahead of me. I don't look forward to dying one little bit, but I simply don't worry about it because it's going to happen to me as it does to anybody. ...

I write as good as I can, and don't try to turn that into some hope for a future that I could never know. I've had some people tell me that they knew they were great and that they would live in literature forever, and my response is to pat them on the back and say, "Maybe you'll feel better tomorrow."
my favorite writers and poets is Donald Hall.At some point in this book I said that I expect my immortality to cease about seven minutes after my funeral. I have seen so many poets who were famous, who won all sorts of prizes, disappear with their deaths." NPR Interview.

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