Slouching towards great writers…a few women i met who had that slant straight look!
I remember when i snuck onto the great southern writer Flannery O’conery’s peacock farm in Middletown Georgia. I remember her kind reception, and the sharp knowing in her eyes. That humor mixed with sharp insight and kindness. That same sense I got when I met Willa Cather, another great southern writer. Both women had this depth of listening, and years of inner beholding in them. But they could also both be very funny.
I also met Robert Bly on my birthday, we spoke of Jesus and death. He dedicated several poems to me. He had a tender bear heart, and a contagious concern for things. He had a tone of being which lingered.
But these two women made an even deeper impression on me with their eyes.
Both of them shared a sharp acerbic wit, mixed with a grandmother care less what people think-ness. I respected that then, when i was working my way through school, and taking long road trips to places where great people lived.
I went to the delta blues museum on a little library in Mississippi on the same trip I met Willa Cather. I wanted to see the spaces which formed the spiritual sight of these writers. I wanted to taste their atmospheres, there environments. But I also wanted to meet the ones who were still alive. Those women were two of my favorites, outside of their art, just as people. They had presence and concern, and something which felt like wisdom.
Of course, i would read all their books on the way to their places of residence. And I really didn’t care, when i got there, if i got to meet them. I just wanted to get their thoughts into my bones in an experiential way. Fortunately, i did get to meet many great writers and artist over the years. But these two stuck out.
I know the roads in the south. I’ve memorized them. It was never nostalgia to me. I’ve never had an image of some romantic past. Both my grandfather’s were farmers and homesteaders. So I know how much work they had daily, and there is nothing romantic about a watermelon patch in terms of work. But there is something special about sunset over a watermelon patch.
My grandfather used to have people jump off the train and steal his melons. So he kept his shotgun on that part of the field. Regardless, i never was romantic about their generation. It was lots of hard work. Still, i felt that my own heart felt more at home in their time than mine. A bit like that movie Paris, Texas. At least the tone.
Anyways, Willa and Flannery both carried all those “Christ haunted south” ways in their eyes. And I was glad to meet them for that.
Later when i met Madonna, i started thinking about the difference between live performers and writers. She had such buzz around her. I liked talking with her, and she was very open spiritually, but in terms of that older inner listening spirit, those writers had more of that. Perhaps it’s just different mediums lead to different formation of the soul. I like all sort of people. But there is something about those who have spent a life listening, that creates an inner bedrock, that is also somehow water softened.
Meeting Madonna:
The day i met madonna i was really going to meet Johnny Dep. It was just like before 911 where i sensed exactly where to sit and how long to linger in a certain chair. I was in Austin, Texas, down near the river, and felt i was to go sit at a particular cafe along the greenbelt. Then she arrived with her entourage. I was surprised it was her and not Johnny Dep, as that’s who i thought i had a Divine appointment with, as he was in town. God keeps you on your toes like that!
The river was particularly clear that day, and i think people were on the bridge waiting for the bats to come out. People watch bats in Austin.
Anyways, she eventually calls over to me, “are you italian? You look italian or Jewish or both.” Then she went back to her meeting. At this point it still didn’t register yet who she was. We have many “big whigs” come through town, and this woman had about fifteen people attending her.
Then, I suddenly saw a menorah over her head, and at that instant realized who she was. I don’t know why those two things came together. But I got a full “word” for her at that instant. I won’t go into the full message i sensed for her here, but it was kind and God toned, and specific.
I got up walked over and shared the word, not knowing if i would be received. I was, kindly. She was very open to what I had to say, and afterwards asked me to give words to the whole group. I think she thought i was a psychic. But unfortunately i didn’t have words for the whole group, just for her that day! God was going out of his way to bless Madonna. Every time something like that happens i think about how much He actually has a thousand thoughts towards each of us daily.
It turns out Johnny Dep was around for a Pirates of the Caribbean party, but that day wasn’t the day to bless him.
I like how God doesn’t care how famous you are, He still just wants to love you and tell you things you need to know.