Monday, March 17, 2008
Lord Nose, as he would sign his letters
It's like a library burned itself to the ground while we were sleeping. Ever since hearing that Jonathan was in the hospital I've been thinking about him everyday, but the thing is with someone like THIS MAN Jonathan Williams, after you meet him you think about him often as it is.Yesterday in Philadelphia poet Chris Martin gave an amazing reading with Kevin Varrone and Paul Siegell. Chris talked a bit about disequilibrium as a force NECESSARY to make the possibility of new information to be taken, processed, or, rather the building of new equations, new processors, new ways for new ideas. It makes me think about Jonathan Williams, as a poet, as a person, in that, he is so unique that being around him, taking him in, creates these new, before unknown spaces for us. While there are many many, marvelous, and generous elder poets, not many others can create such space for us.
My time spent with Jonathan, and his lover Tom, and their cat HB Kitty (who arrived on the night of the Hail Bob comet and MOVED IN), and Bruce the bat (who lives in the eaves of the porch), is time spent in such a way that I KNOW IT'S POSSIBLE, and want such time and space for others, and want to see HOW to get that going for us. The care of song, the importance of and FORCE of song, thoughts, everything else from books to the Franklinia tree, all of it can have a place for us, not just in place of brutality, but in spite of it.
Very sad day. But a beautiful day too, knowing what we can have. Many thanks to this passing GIANT!
CAConrad
