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The Waking
I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.
I feel my fate in what I cannot fear.
I learn by going where I cannot go.
We think by feeling. What is there to know?
I hear my being dance from ear to ear.
I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.
Of those so close beside me, which are you?
God bless the Ground! I shall walk softly there,
And learn by going where I have to go.
Light takes the Tree, but who can tell us how?
The lowly worm climbs up a winding stair;
I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.
Great Nature has another thing to do
To you and me; so take the lively air,
And, lovely, learn by going where to go.
This shaking keeps me steady. I should know.
What falls away is always. And is near.
I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.
I learn by going where I have to go.
--Theodore Roethke
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Joy's Updates - Straight from the Horse's Mouth.
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Sunday, May 28, 2006
Cheeky Wee Ferguson
As my friends know, I just love to watch Craig Ferguson's The Late, Late Show and emailed CBS as soon as I first saw him to let them know that I thought he was brilliant and would be the sucessor to the Letterman throne when Dave retires and that when he does, he'll blow Conan O'Brien out of the water the way he's surely doing now if he decides to stay on as a talk show host which many of us would love to see happen. Since Letterman's company produces his show, I'd think he'd be the obvious choice to take over The Late Show, and Leno has named O'Brien as his replacement on The Tonight Show when he retires from it in four years or so. I hope I added to all the praise Ferguson receives but have noticed that my emails have no effect on networks. His monologues are hilarious and include references from pop-culture, history, philosophy, literature, and all kinds of insightful, entertaining topics. His does great impersonations of Michael Caine and Sean Connery and has been compared to Peter Cook as a comic genius which is high praise indeed.
Ferguson has written, acted in, directed and produced movies. He wrote and played the gardener in Saving Grace (in which Brenda Blethyn was nominated for an Oscar for Best Actress), wrote, directed, and acted in I'll Be There, wrote and starred in The Big Tease, played the English boss in The Drew Carey Show, and wrote and sings the theme song to his talk show.
So it's no surprise that Craig Ferguson's first novel reflects how multi-talented and complex he is. Reviews for Between the Bridge and the River have been good, better, and best. This review from NPR contains a typically wonderful excerpt. I'm about half-way through reading it and am fascinated by the magical realism of the four main characters whose lives intertwine in odd ways. Scottish childhood friends George and Fraser become a criminal-defense attorney and a televangelist, respectively. Fraser dreams of Carl Jung disguised as various characters while George faces death with a Frenchwoman whose Six Great Loves have all died. Leon and Saul are Southern half-brothers whose fathers were supposed to be Frank Sinatra and Peter Lawford and are adopted by a Florida snake-handler after their mother drank herself to death, and they escaped from an orphanage. See? Already bizarre!
Check this review out:
Powells.com Staff Pick
Books written by famous personalities are generally badly written, often interesting only as ephemeral curiosity like car accidents involving shining new Porsches. In the end you are still just left with a wreck.
Craig Ferguson is a blaring exception. His novel Between the Bridge and the River is well written and extremely funny, and Ferguson's voice is honest with a unique style. The reader is drawn in by a story unfolding as naturally as a conversation; yet it is fresh and witty with a sophistication which keeps the pages turning — sometimes in both directions, revisiting a passage just to laugh again, or marvel at a phrase. How Ferguson found the time to write this excellent novel while hosting The Late Late Show is baffling. Even more mysterious is how someone in his unusual surroundings — the glitz and glam of Hollywood — could write a story so genuine about life, love and the grit in between.
This is the book for critical readers who expect more than to be entertained. This is a book for critical writers who should expect to be jealous.
11:49:00 AM
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