A walk around the Central Park Reservoir

With the birth rate falling and America getting old and cranky, it’s wonderful to walk in Central Park on a sunny day and see all the little families rollicking around, all the little kiddos. It’s brave to raise boisterous kids in a small apartment in a bumpy economy and good for Joe Biden that he put some child support in his Recovery Act. We need more of these kids, otherwise we’ll become a national historical reenactment.

I don’t want that. I want the past to fade into the sunset, except for the classics, like Central Park. I walk in the park as April comes in and it’s a genteel world like what Renoir painted in Paris with the ladies carrying parasols and Dvořák walked in Prague whistling a tune that became the Humoresque that generations of kids would learn for spring recitals and Shakespeare sat in and scribbled notes for “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” –– it is a permanent pleasure, to be cherished for all time, but I want life to move on so the kids grow up and think of Vietnam as a cuisine and trump as part of card games and “pandemic” will come to mean a college prof who gets negative reviews.

The past lives on with Google and that’s okay. In every phone and laptop is a trove of trivia and the answers to all questions –– where did Allen Ginsberg write “Howl” (an apartment on Montgomery Street in San Francisco), or what president hit a hole-in-one during his presidency (Jerry Ford), or the name of George Custer’s horse at the Little Big Horn (Comanche, and he outlived Custer by fifteen years) –– are easily available. Back in the day, you’d’ve spent months in the library paging through dusty tomes in the reference room to get this information and now it’s literally at your fingertips. Good enough.

Everything is on the Internet, the entire subterranean depths of demons and obsessions. You can read a website saying that doctors and nurses who administer COVID vaccine should be tried as war criminals. You can visit the world of men in love with weaponry. A man writes: “The AK-47 has endearing qualities, is easy to manipulate, the sights are rugged, and a reasonably skilled person can get maybe 60 rounds a minute out. And they’re fun as hell.” This strikes me as lunatic fringe but it’s a fringe that is steering the Republican Party.

I used Google the other day to locate a column by Russell Baker that I vaguely remembered from his years writing for the New York Times. He was a great writer but it was mostly in newsprint which, as we know, winds up being used to catch spillage or as a dog’s toilet.
 

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Posts to the Host

(In reference to the April 7, 2021, column, “Spring arrives in time to forgive us our debts").

Dear Garrison:
I called my mother in the dementia care home — whom I was unable to visit because of COVID — and I said, “Mom, it’s Annie.”
“Oh, Annie, I can’t hear you.”
“Hold the phone to your other ear, Mom.”
“Oh, that’s better. I must have wax in that ear.”
“Mom, did you get a package from me this week? They would have brought it to your room.”
“I don’t think so. It’s probably still at the front desk. What’s in it?”
“It’s a book of poetry by Mary Oliver. I really think you will like her poems. She has a chapter about dogs.”
“No, I don’t think I got it. I wouldn’t worry about it, honey. No one would bother to steal a book of poetry.”

Thanks for making each day better with a poem.
Ann

Thank the poets, not me, I’m only a reader. In fact, I just ordered five copies of Mary Oliver’s Devotions, a beautiful collection of her work. I like to give them to people and they’re always surprised by how open and friendly she is. This fall I hope to get back on the road with an odd show, a jumble of stories and songs and poems, including two or three of hers. I’m sorry I never got to meet her. She would’ve loved that line, “Nobody would bother to steal a book of poetry” and then she’d try to imagine someone who would, a poetry burglar. 
GK

Dear Mr. Keillor,
I work for a nonprofit that cares for severely handicapped individuals whose parents or other family members are too old to care for them. Many of them suffer in harsh conditions, such as one woman with cerebral palsy who never took a step or spoke a sentence in her entire life. She was 75 and spent her days in a wheelchair, but despite her difficulties, she had a remarkable stoical air about her. Her name was Anka. I always made a point of reading The Writer’s Almanac, and one morning, walking past Anka, I asked her if she liked listening to poetry.  She nodded enthusiastically so I wheeled her into the office and got on your website. The very first poem I read to her was “First Cutting” by Susie Patlove. Anka responded to the last line of the poem in such a way that I knew she understood it. I discovered over time, reading poems to her, that she was quite intelligent and fully aware of her surroundings. 

Every morning we began the day reading a poem. I wrote to Susie Patlove explaining how this woman, who lived in one of the darker, unrealized corners of life, was touched by her poetry and Susie sent her latest collection of poetry, which pleased Anka greatly.

When Anka was about to turn 80 (a miracle in and of itself), I wrote to Ms. Patlove and asked her to send a birthday poem. I told her that Anka had a strong attachment to the creatures who fly. She had poster-sized pictures of angels, fairies, extravagant flying bugs, birds, you name it. One time, I asked her if angels ever came to visit her and she nodded. I had no doubt that was true.

Susie came through for Anka and sent us a poem via email. This was September 20. It was a beautiful sunny day. The trouble was, I was having problems with my printer and couldn’t get things to work properly. The clock was ticking and it was the day of and I was close to panic when things finally fell into place. When I slumped back in my chair and let out a sigh of relief, I noticed, above my table, a large green dragonfly hovering above the computer. Usually, when a dragonfly accidentally enters a house, it beats its head against a window. But this guy just held its position over the printer. I was stupefied and just froze staring at this dragonfly hovering. It slowly came toward me at nose level and I raised up my hand and he rested on it. I got up and walked to the back patio door and he flew off.

That in itself was magical enough but the poem Susie created for Anka was a continuation of “First Cutting,” telling the story of dragonflies hovering above the hay wagon.

Anka died a couple years later and I retired, but I am ofttimes reminded what Shakespeare wrote: “There are more things in heaven and earth than what you’ve dreamed of in your philosophies.”   

Thank you for continuing to pass the light on into the places that need it the most.
Jeff Sandsted
Groton, NY

Thank you, Jeff, for passing on the story of Anka. A profound story and it makes me feel that we should keep on doing the Almanac.  
GK

Hi, Garrison.
Your reveling in the word “schist” made me smile. My family did not swear either, and my consequent ignorance of certain words led to a faux pas in my third-grade class. The nun in charge, about to leave the room for a few minutes, ordered me to write on the board the names of those who had not done their homework. One of the guilty parties was named Gary Schmidt … and as a little girl of Irish descent, I wasn’t familiar with the spelling of German names. Yes, I wrote THAT on the board. When the nun returned, the Schmidt almost hit the fan, but when it became obvious that I had no clue what was amiss, she burst out laughing, as did the class. I was outraged at what obviously was a joke I didn’t get, repeatedly exclaiming, “What’s so funny? What’s so funny?” Thanks for reminding me of the good old days.
P.M.

Garrison, how is it that you never laughed at your own Lake Wobegon stories. I can hardly listen without guffawing, and you remain so even-voiced. Please explain.
Harry 

You had the benefit of surprise, Harry, and I had the burden of having thought too hard about what I was doing. I wrote those stories, tinkered with them, then in the dressing room on Saturday stared at the five pages of single-spaced writing and tried to remember it, and then walked out and faced the audience as my self-confidence leaked away. The best laughers were women, and their laughter carried the others along with them, including the glum Midwestern men who looked like me, solemn, and so it mostly all worked out pretty well. Glad you liked it. 
GK
 

For your entertainment

As concerts and performances begin to start up again, we have been checking in with guest performers who have graced the A Prairie Home Companion stage to see what they have been up to and what they are most looking forward to — and asking if they have any concert plans or new projects. This is in addition to our featuring a classic A Prairie Home Companion show from the archive. Over 10,000 musical guests performed on A Prairie Home Companion over 43 years with Garrison, so we know there are some gems that you will want to hear. We hope you tune in with us on Saturday evenings. The link will be posted to our Facebook page at 5 p.m. CT each week.  

 

A Prairie Home Companion — April 17, 2010:
A Prairie Home Companion travels back to 2010 for a show from the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark. Proving that A Prairie Home Companion was ahead of its time by featuring a full-fledged national LIVE performance contest, we revisit the 10th annual Talent Contest where five lucky bands perform to win the coveted Silver Water Tower trophy. Tune in for some fine music from Bumblin’ and Stumblin’, The Monarques, Karl Stoll and the Danger Zone, April Smith and the Great Picture Show, and the Mudbugs Cajun & Zydeco Band. Also with us, surefire palate cleansers, Vince Giordano and the Nighthawks, Prairie Home Music Director Richard Dworsky, the Royal Academy of Radio Actors (Tim Russell, Sue Scott, Fred Newman), and the latest News from Lake Wobegon.

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Erica Rhodes:

A Prairie Home Companion fans are familiar with the comedy stylings of Erica Rhodes since she made her debut on A Prairie Home Companion at age 10 and claims the experience of performing on the show over the years prepared her for a life in stand-up. Over the pandemic, she wrote and performed virtual concerts while awaiting the return of live, in-person shows. The results of this work can be seen in her new stand-up comedy show La Vie en Rhodes, where she performed a socially distanced show, all recorded and filmed live, delivered from a drive-in theater. The special debuts next week for your entertainment on several platforms, including Amazon, Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music, etc.

Watch 'La Vie En Rhodes' Preview >>>
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Suzy Bogguss:

Suzy Bogguss has been busy during the pandemic! She recently passed the one-year anniversary for “Wine Down Wednesday,” her weekly chat and song with fans. Plus, she has new music, a new recording project, a cookbook, and an interactive, up-close fan club. Our guest interview has video links to songs and performances plus all the latest information, including her “Wine Down Wednesday” shows.

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Ken Burns:
Garrison Keillor provided voice-over work for two of Ken Burns’ documentaries: The Civil War and Baseball. Ken Burns is back on PBS with a multi-parter that should be of interest to fellow cruisers since many passengers visited Hemingway’s house while in Key West. The first two-hour installment was described as “riveting” television by Garrison on his Facebook page.  

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Paula Poundstone & Living with Limericks

The great Paula Poundstone was featured on the classic Joke Show rebroadcast last week and had Garrison on as a guest to her podcast “Nobody Listens to Paula Poundstone.” Here is what she wrote for the back cover of Living with Limericks:

“In Living with Limericks, Garrison Keillor unfurls his whole life in limericks. Since I first discovered Garrison Keillor, I joined millions who have thought him to be a national treasure. Now, it turns out, all the while he was earning that distinction, he was keeping contemporaneous memos in the form of limericks. It’s like finding out there was another floor to Versailles, or that Julia Child left a full freezer, or that there’s a film of Jesse Owens, shot from the other side of the Olympic track, where you can see him flipping Hitler off as he nears the finish line.”

Excerpt from Living with Limericks:
I always take paper and pen to a Twins game so that during those long middle innings I am not at a loss for amusement. People who think baseball is boring are people who are unable to call on their inner resources. I go to a game with friends so there’s conversation: a new pitcher comes in from the bullpen to warm up and I turn to my sister and say, “So what was the idea behind the Numerical Bible?” and we discuss that for a minute until play resumes. Or I can write a limerick.

Baseball’s a slow game, no doubt.
And a fan can go strolling about
For a bratwurst with mustard
And a soft frozen custard,
And why not a bottle of stout?
Come back to your place,
Still no one on base,
Same score and nobody out.
You sit with your thoughts
Then notice your brat’s
Incomplete and you go back for kraut.
And thoughtfully
You go off to pee
When the crowd gives out a great shout
And you wash your hands
And run back to the stands
Expecting you missed a great clout
But it’s a young hound
On the field, chased around
By an usher, an ump, and a Scout.

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That Time of Year by Garrison Keillor

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Read the Introduction >>>