Wendell Berry: Dramatized Poems

Since Wendell Berry's recent visit to Utah for the Stegner Symposium, I seem to be finding him everywhere! A couple of weeks ago, there was a nice piece on National Public Radio's Weekend Edition Saturday about an group in Kentucky who has brought Berry's poems to the stage.

As NPR reporter Elizabeth Kramer explained: "Wendell Berry, the Kentucky-based agrarian philosopher, has been described as our era's heir to Emerson and Thoreau — a writer concerned with the importance of community, and with the lessons we can learn from the natural world. Now, the Actors Theatre of Louisville is putting his ideas on stage."

You can listen to the entire piece at the NPR Website.

Kramer continues: "And though some were published decades ago, the poems feel surprisingly current. One in particular — about a stock market crash — feels particularly timely:

When I hear the stock market has fallen,
I say, "Long live gravity! Long live
stupidity, error and greed in the palaces
of fantasy capitalism!" I think
an economy should be based on thrift,
on taking care of things, not on theft,
usury, seduction, waste, and ruin.
My purpose is a language that can make us whole,
Though mortal, ignorant, and small.
The world is whole beyond human knowing."

The UMNH Community Book Discussion will be delving into Berry's essays in "The Gift of Good Land" later this year. Until then, where are you discovering Berry these days??