Document text
0 of 3 Premium Clicks used this month SUBSCRIBE Print + Online Subscriber Activation | Register x Forgot Password | Need an Account? subscribe | newsletter | deals Home News Latest Stories 10 things to know for Tuesday Wednesday is Kiwanis International Day 'Love will have the final word' 10 things to know for Monday Getting a lift from climbing a tree Education Ashland schools expand chicken pox exclusion rules Students go behind the scenes at hospital Ashland robotics team aims to build a winner AHS ranked No. 7 by Niche College debt load balloons: What could, should be done? Environment The top five conservation success of 2014 Protestors want Keystone pipeline plans stopped New wandering wolf arrives in Southern Oregon Turning fire fuel threat into wood stove heat Ashland watershed trails would change under proposal Business Silvio Calabi: Ford Escape Still a Solid Player Ride & Drive: 2015 Cadillac Escalade Brammo bought by Polaris They have a plan Ashland coffee roasters win nationwide honors Politics and elections Chief Holderness retiring, wants to help find successor State News New wandering wolf arrives in Southern Oregon Police officer shoots armed driver near Reedsport Nation - World Obituaries James Henry Hopkins Robert Lawrence Death Notices Susan Lynne Schaffer Dolores M. Edwards Shareable Looking back: Do you remember 2014’s biggest stories? In memoriam: 2014’s notable deaths Sports Latest Stories Blazers win game, lose Aldridge to hand injury Seahawks see need for improvement Springfield takes advantage of Ashland letdown Leonard's strong return powers Spurs past Blazers Mariota wins Manning award High school Springfield takes advantage of Ashland letdown A Grizz sweep Comets press past Grizzlies Raiders put on a show Graham sparks Grizzly rout Southern Oregon University Springfield takes advantage of Ashland letdown Mariota wins Manning award Heisman winner Mariota says he's going to the NFL Buckeyes won title behind line play, Elliott and Jones Sayre says character key to SOU's success Opinion Latest Stories Guest Opinion: Save the ski area, bring the community together, end the divisive expansion Letters to the Editor, Jan. 19 Chris Honoré: The Lewis Glacier on Mount Kenya — an elegy Our View: King's other message Herb Rothschild Jr.: King's provocation Editorial Our View: King's other message Our View: A matter of survival Other Views: Get GMO rules right Our View: No benefit from LNG pipeline Our View: Putting slash to work Letters Letters to the Editor, Jan. 19 Letters to the Editor, Jan. 16 Letters to the Editor, Jan. 14 Letters to the Editor, Jan. 5 Letters to the Editor, Dec. 31 Guest opinions Chris Honoré: The Lewis Glacier on Mount Kenya — an elegy Herb Rothschild Jr.: King's provocation Guest Opinion: Bikes, hikers/equestrians need separate watershed trails Guest Opinion: SOU biomass burner would be big mistake Guest Opinion: City hiring policy is fair, unbiased Revels Latest Stories Community blog: Community gathers for William Stafford celebration Thanks for the Memories Theatre presents 'Cardenio' Best Bets: Jan. 15-22 A look at the life and vision of Martin Luther King Jr. 'Spotlight' highlights Orbison's life, music Theater Roy Orbison tribute hits high note Insights into the gifts theater offers off the stage Theater is an act of co-creation Music A laid-back chat with Marilyn Manson Roy Orbison tribute hits high note Jeff Kloetzel at Belle Fiore The Farr Side: Top 10 album count-up for 2014 Visual Art Schneider winter exhibits on tap: 'Baker's Dozen' and 'New Works' First Friday kicks off a new year Movies Interview: Jennifer Aniston works through her character’s pain in ‘Cake’ Movie review: ‘Blackhat’ is a frustrating 404 error Movie review: ‘A Most Violent Year’ is a gritty look at oily dealings in ’80s New York Movie review: Clint Eastwood shines as director in ‘American Sniper’ 'Selma' struggle remains relevant today Food and Drink Food for Thought: Wintertime wining and dining Cruelest Month: Poetry Blog Lifestyle Latest Stories Dr. Elaine Heffner: Kids need room for ingenuity Food for Thought: Beefing up your dinnertime Episode 18: Boomers' anti-establishment meetings now at senior center It Is What It Is: How to tell the difference between tattling and telling Kitchen Call: Try roasting these veggies Aging Happens Inner Peace Column Inner Peace Blog Classifieds Jobs Autos Real Estate FEATURED » Obituaries Photos Videos Blogs Business NEWS NOW Ashland author an Oregon Book Award finalist ... Calendar: Tuesday, Jan. 20 ... Chris Honoré: The Lewis Glacier on Mount Kenya — an elegy ... Ashland author an Oregon Book Award finalist ... Calendar: Tuesday, Jan. 20 ... Chris Honoré: The Lewis Glacier on Mount Kenya — an elegy ... Book Notes: Essays on aging, from an aging poet Comment By Rae Padilla Francoeur Wicked Local DailyTidings.com By Rae Padilla Francoeur Wicked Local Posted Jan. 12, 2015 @ 9:05 am By Rae Padilla Francoeur Wicked Local Posted Jan. 12, 2015 @ 9:05 am » Social News “Essays After Eighty” by Donald Hall. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Boston/New York, 2014. 144 pages. $22. When a friend told me she decided not to buy poet and essayist Donald Hall’s “Essays After Eighty” for her 80-something-year-old father for Christmas, I asked why. “Too close to the bone,” she said about the essays that come at aging from all angles, from all moods and all seasons in northern New England. Perhaps she should have taken the risk. Hall, the U.S. poet laureate in 2006-07, lives, writes and grows older at his New Hampshire family homestead. From his sitting chair at the window, he lays out the writer’s life with insight, an undiminished supply of smart sentences, no small slathering of wit, and respectable sobriety when the occasion warrants. Though Hall, in his mid-’80s, has some years on me, I have once again been welcomed home by this writer. Can a book be a home? Yes, when it gives you an education, cheers you at just the right moments and talks to you with respect and clarity. For some people, books provide the material needed for informed maturation throughout life. And, yes, “Essays After Eighty” is close to the bone. But many will thank Hall for telling us what, precisely, aging looks like and, even, what it can be if we reflect with wit and grace. And do not discount the importance of amusing ourselves. When you read Hall, you cannot help but think that he is his own best audience. Because of this book, we see the things that fall away as we, more specifically Hall, ages — from access to upstairs rooms to the cane incrementally replaced by the wheelchair to the home-cooked meals to the certitude of the toilet’s precise location. Thank goodness for Stouffer’s. For neighbors and friends. For the fire department that twice had to extinguish a fire ignited by a cigarette in Hall’s blue reading chair. As the world view grows more circumscribed, it can attain sharper focus. The cow barn that once sheltered milking cows is now “a barn for looking at” — something Hall does every single day from his chair. “Out the Window” is an essay full of observation, physical and otherwise. “When we turn 80, we understand that we are extraterrestrial,” he writes. And people can be condescending. A museum guard once asked him how he liked his “din-din.” Personal essays, so good for rapt reading, are also good for commiseration. Who among friends admits these petty (sadly universal) degradations? Every essay is worthy of your time. The title essay is a must-read for writers. Hall’s essays undergo 30 to 80 revisions before he lets one go. He has abandoned writing poetry, his passion, because he’s lost what was propelled from his “brain-depths” by testosterone’s thrust. In this essay, he mentions the need for contrast. In many cases in the personal essay form, that contrast is personal revelation of an unsavory sort. A good essayist like Hall, though he may no longer have the physical balance to stand at the top of the stairs, can still balance character and conflict and come out unscathed. We do learn a few unsavory things. Hall smokes, despite two major bouts with cancer early on. And he’s honest about the way cigarettes impair the quality of life for him and those around him. The rug at the foot of his gazing chair and surrounding books show signs of scorching. He has dropped many a burning cigarette. In one case, it led to a car accident; in another, to the chair fire mentioned earlier. Hall has an awareness of his physical self that follows him through these essays. In “A Yeti in the Distance” he writes of “life’s widest smile” after receiving an award from President Barack Obama. He also writes of Ken Burn’s image of him looking wide-mouthed and stupefied. In “Three Beards,” we learn that each of his bearded stages was instigated by a woman. It’s worth noting that the cover of the book features a close-up of Hall that is brilliant in both composition and in what it captures in the man’s face and eyes. It becomes our companion as we read. In “One Road,” which talks about a European road trip he takes with his young wife, Hall reminds us that we “divorce for the same reasons we marry.” What drew him to his first wife later fueled the animus. Hall writes frequently of his second and beloved wife, Jan Kenyon, the poet. While Hall was undergoing chemotherapy for liver cancer, she was diagnosed with leukemia and died 15 months later. They lived together happily on the family farm in Wilmot, New Hampshire. Kenyon’s poetry, ventures Hall, may survive when other poets’ work has not. This collection considers life lived from Hall’s perspective in his reading chair. Hall writes that he rather enjoys looking at the art in museums from a wheelchair. It’s different, but the perspective has value. His life view from his reading chair is also worthy, for it is a serene and contemplative place where Hall has joined fully with self. It’s not just the past that interests Hall as he gazes outward and inward simultaneously. He’s seeing life lived in the more acute stages of old age, when decline hastens and gathers a certain undeniable momentum. I’m grateful that this “extraterrestrial” had the poetry in him to flavor the sometimes sobering words in such a way as to make them not just palatable but rich and entertaining. This offering is more friend, more home than it is pages in a book. Rae Padilla Francoeur’s memoir, “Free Fall: A Late-in-Life Love Affair,” is available online or in some bookstores. Write her at [email protected]. Read her blog at freefallrae.blogspot.com or follow her on Twitter at @RaeAF. By Rae Padilla Francoeur Wicked Local DailyTidings.com By Rae Padilla Francoeur Wicked Local Posted Jan. 12, 2015 @ 9:05 am » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. calendar Connect with DailyTidings.com Facebook Twitter RSS Back to top Reader Services Reader Services home Subscriptions Subscriber controls Contact us Submissions Photos Events Letters to the editor Corrections Alerts Email alerts RSS feeds Text Alerts Advertise Media Kit Home Products and services Ad rates Advertising contacts Mail Tribune Daily Tidings The Nickel Shop Our Valley Blogs Stay Informed Email newsletter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Your privacy is important, read our privacy policy. © Copyright 2015 Local Media Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms of Service | Local Media Group Publications Original content available for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons license, except where noted. DailyTidings.com | P.O. Box 1108, Medford, OR 97501