I recently came upon a Bill Moyers interview with the author, poet, and activist Wendell Berry. I like Berry’s soft spoken yet powerful message about conservation and preservation of what is good. He once said, “The thought of what was here once and is gone forever will not leave me as long as I live. It is as though I walk knee deep in its absence.” The coal mining companies in his home area of Kentucky caused toxic runoff that poisoned the river running by his farm, resulting in killing the trees that used to flourish along the river bank.
For some reason the image of our late governor Art Link rose up agreeing with much of Berry’s stance. Many people have seen the video called, “When the Landscape Is Quiet Again.” If they haven’t they should have. In it Link hoped the developers would leave the land as they found it when they left. Coal, oil, pipelines, maybe more threaten the environment. Here Berry says, “The point is not to make a killing but to have enough.”
Link’s obituary states, “Even though Art had the hands of a farmer, he had the finesse to fiddle a song that would fill a room with joy.” So, too, does Berry have the hands of a farmer and the finesse to craft a poem that causes people to sit up and listen.
No comments:
Post a Comment