“The earth used to be God’s body
but he took too many wounds and abandoned it.
He left us with the husk we made
of his body like a wasp’s nest.
Man shits his pants and trashed God’s body”
– Jim Harrison, Untitled, from Jim Harrison: Complete Poems
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“At its foot, this dam is twenty-eight meters thick and poured from specially hardened concrete. This lower part would still almost certainly be there, standing majestically without relaying any message, no message for anyone. There at the foot of the smooth concrete wall there would be a crystal clear trickle of water from the rocks to the side; it would be sought out by herds of deer, as though”
– Werner Herzog, Every Man for Himself and God Against All
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Werner Herzog stopped his memoir mid sentence when a hummingbird flew into his vision through the window.
Jim Harrison died at his writing desk with his notebook open to his last, unfinished poem.
One ending was a choice.
The other was chosen.
I like the idea of Jim Harrison writing til the end of his life.
What else was he supposed to do?
I love Werner Herzog’s singularity in being his absolute self in everything he does.
No summing up for him.
His memoir ends in mid flow- he is still living and working.
There is no conclusion for him.
Just more work that he wants to do (and I want to read!).
Conversations With Quotations 