"Delay is natural to a writer. He is like a surfer—he bides his time. Waits for the perfect wave on which to ride in. He waits for the surge (of emotion? of strength? of courage?) that will carry him along." (E.B. White, The Paris Review Interviews, 1969)
12.10.2006
Puts Me to Shame
Surfn' Poetry? These guys live it (New York Times. Free Registration Req'd).
4 comments:
Anonymous
said...
I don't know if I love this or hate it. Surfing is so closely tied to the ocean and the smell of salt and fresh air for me; in contrast, their surf scene seems an abomination. Surfing brings me into nature, and they cannot be in it with conditions like that. Yet, they did not choose the pollution, even if they do choose the unorthodox body of water.
Doc: Surely you have seen Step Into Liquid? Among other quirky bits, they document the surfing scene in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. And the Malloy brothers surf in Ireland.
LK, saw it and loved it (even the tanker surfers). This story just takes it to a Whole. New. Level. And for the record, the scene with the Malloy brothers made me bawl.
sport, I would agree if we weren't such a huge shaping force in nature. I think the willingness of people to wade into the sludge we make is the beginning of restoring the "naturalness" of the system (or at least a more sustainable fiction of that naturalness, as opposed to the "it will take care of itself because it's all so big and scary" fiction). I wish we were on the other side of this corrective, but it is inspiring to see those who utterly throw themselves against the complex forces of nature and human weakness to feel that alive.
4 comments:
I don't know if I love this or hate it. Surfing is so closely tied to the ocean and the smell of salt and fresh air for me; in contrast, their surf scene seems an abomination. Surfing brings me into nature, and they cannot be in it with conditions like that. Yet, they did not choose the pollution, even if they do choose the unorthodox body of water.
Doc: Surely you have seen Step Into Liquid? Among other quirky bits, they document the surfing scene in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. And the Malloy brothers surf in Ireland.
LK, saw it and loved it (even the tanker surfers). This story just takes it to a Whole. New. Level. And for the record, the scene with the Malloy brothers made me bawl.
sport, I would agree if we weren't such a huge shaping force in nature. I think the willingness of people to wade into the sludge we make is the beginning of restoring the "naturalness" of the system (or at least a more sustainable fiction of that naturalness, as opposed to the "it will take care of itself because it's all so big and scary" fiction). I wish we were on the other side of this corrective, but it is inspiring to see those who utterly throw themselves against the complex forces of nature and human weakness to feel that alive.
These guys have it distilled down to a basic essence--pure surfing totally stripped of all aesthetics.
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