The Real Person Beneath that Elegant Facade
Do not think me gentle
because I speak in praise
of gentleness, or elegant
because I honor the grace
that keeps this world. I am
a man crude as any,
gross of speech, intolerant,
stubborn, angry, full
of fits and furies. That I
may have spoken well
at times, is not natural.
A wonder is what it is.
--Poet Wendell Berry
You can read an interview with the Kentucky-based poet/farmer here, in the excellent bimonthly magazine of literary journalism, New Southerner
2 Comments:
Daniella, leave it to your refined French-Canadian sensibility to say something with such panache. It's interesting how this works sometimes. Until I came across this wonderful quote, the name Wendell Berry didn't mean much to me--just another of those many writer's names you see from time to time without having read any of his work. But the pungency of the quote caused me to look him up at the bookstore only this morning, flip through some of his titles, and buy his "The Way of Ignorance and Other Essays," which looks delicious. I'll let you know soon if it's as good as it would appear.
thank you--
what it is!
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