In my lecture this weekend, I'll talk about Tolkien's poem "The Tale of Tinuviel." Here is a link to a recording of Tolkien reading that incomparable poem.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QhDgJwcJcVk&feature=related
"The leaves were long, the grass was green,
The hemlock-umbels tall and fair,
And in the glade a light was seen
Of stars in shadow shimmering.
Tinuviel was dancing there
To music of a pipe [...]
The Lightest Touch
Good poetry begins with
the lightest touch,
a breeze arriving from nowhere,
a whispered healing arrival,
a word in your ear,
a settling into things,
then like a hand in the dark
it arrests the whole body,
steeling you for revelation.
In the silence that follows
a great line
you can feel Lazarus
deep inside
even the laziest, most deathly afraid
part of you,
lifts up his hands and walk [...]
I LOVE this excerpt on the creative process from Frank Cottrell Boyce, author of Cosmic. You can read the rest ofthe interview at http://www.examiner.com/x-19497-Madison-Books-Examiner~y2010m1d24-An-interview-with-Cosmic-and-Millions-author-Frank-Cottrell-Boyce?cid=edition-rss-Madison. Thanks to Lynn Maudlin for the link.
PW: The theme of what it means to be/to have a dad in Cosmic is wonderful. Did that emerge on its own, or was it deliberate?
FCB: No [...]