An intriguing poem about stones at the recent Squaw Valley Poetry Workshop reminded me of this wonderful monologue from Molly. Cliff DeYoung performed this monologue at Cal State LA as part of a tribute to Beckett on his 100th’s birthday. I don’t think it could be done better! Continue reading “Cliff DeYoung and Beckett”
Tag: Molloy
Musing on Hopkins, Beckett and Louis C. K.
Larry was getting ready last night to get up at 5:30 am and head out for his weekend softball tournament. Now that he’s turned 70, he’s moved up from the over-65 to the over-70 tournament team, and as one of the youngest players, he’s in demand. He mentioned that he had to lay out all his gear, and I quoted “gear and tackle and trim,” referencing Hopkins’ Pied Beauty. It turns out Larry doesn’t care for Hopkins, and though I brought up The Northon Anthology of English Literature, Volume II, and did my best, he was unmoved. Nonetheless, the echoes of memorized lines enrich my encounter with the world in a delicious way.
And in the process, I realized how rare it is now to take down a doorstop of a volume, look through an index, and find a poem. Mostly, it’s just Google. But having the anthology open on the kitchen table led to my reading a snippet from Beckett’s Molloy: Continue reading “Musing on Hopkins, Beckett and Louis C. K.”