Over at Oregon ArtsWatch is a tribute to poet Marty Christensen with a growing number of responses from folks who remember and pay tribute to the Oregon poet. But I've noticed something that I find interesting. Very interesting indeed. Not once, in any of the tributes or remembrances, including my own, do you find any of the following words: alcoholic, disease, waste, tragic.
The Japanese have a saying: first the man takes the drink; then the drink takes the drink; then the drink takes the man. Booze had taken Marty long ago, and I think we lost much as a result. Lost insights, lost wit, lost work.
In Love's Body Norman Brown makes the case that sober madness is more extraordinary (more dangerous) than drunken madness. Marty's madness sober would have been mind-boggling to see. It's tragic we missed it.
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1 comment:
Yes, this needed saying. Marty was lost to us before his death by booze. And booze may have hastened his demise.
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