Wednesday

May 3, 2000

Lovers at the Zoo

by May Sarton

Broadcast Date: WEDNESDAY: May 3, 2000

Poem: "Lovers at the Zoo," by May Sarton, from Collected Poems 1930-1993 (W.W. Norton).

It's the birthday of journalist and reformer JACOB RIIS, born in Ribe, Denmark (1849). He emigrated to America 1870, barely getting by in a series of jobs—ironworker, farmer, coal miner, peddler—and learned about life on the brink of poverty. He became a police reporter for The New York Tribune. In 1888 he bought a camera, which allowed him to combine his articles on poverty with pictures of dark tenement rooms and hallways. His efforts culminated with the book How the Other Half Lives (1890), illustrated with line drawings based on his photographs.

It's the birthday of poet and novelist MAY SARTON, born in Wondelgem, Belgium (1912). Her family moved to America, where they became citizens when she was 12 years old. In her mid-twenties she turned to writing, and produced novels, poetry collections, a play, 2 children's books, and many short stories and essays. She made her living by writing book and theater reviews and by teaching creative writing. For decades she toiled in obscurity, then was "discovered" by feminist readers during the 1970s. She wrote, "Perhaps the greatest gift we can give to another human being is detachment. Attachment, even that which imagines it is selfless, always lays some burden on the other person. How to learn to love in such a light, airy way that there is no burden?"

It's the birthday of playwright WILLIAM INGE, born in Independence, Kansas (1913). He was inspired to become a playwright after seeing Tennessee Williams' The Glass Menagerie. His plays include The Dark at the Top of the Stairs (1957), Come Back, Little Sheba (1950), Picnic (1953Pulitzer Prize), which made Paul Newman a star, and Bus Stop (1955). He also wrote the screenplay for Splendor in the Grass (1961). But his next 4 plays drew increasingly harsh reviews, and, 2 years after his last play flopped, he killed himself.

Be well, do good work, and keep in touch.®

 

«

»

  • “Writers end up writing stories—or rather, stories' shadows—and they're grateful if they can, but it is not enough. Nothing the writer can do is ever enough” —Joy Williams
  • “I want to live other lives. I've never quite believed that one chance is all I get. Writing is my way of making other chances.” —Anne Tyler
  • “Writing is a performance, like singing an aria or dancing a jig” —Stephen Greenblatt
  • “All good writing is swimming under water and holding your breath.” —F. Scott Fitzgerald
  • “Good writing is always about things that are important to you, things that are scary to you, things that eat you up.” —John Edgar Wideman
  • “In certain ways writing is a form of prayer.” —Denise Levertov
  • “Writing is a socially acceptable form of schizophrenia.” —E.L. Doctorow
  • “Writing is like driving at night in the fog. You can only see as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.” —E.L. Doctorow
  • “Let's face it, writing is hell.” —William Styron
  • “A writer is someone for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people.” —Thomas Mann
  • “Writing is 90 percent procrastination: reading magazines, eating cereal out of the box, watching infomercials.” —Paul Rudnick
  • “Writing is a failure. Writing is not only useless, it's spoiled paper.” —Padget Powell
  • “Writing is very hard work and knowing what you're doing the whole time.” —Shelby Foote
  • “I think all writing is a disease. You can't stop it.” —William Carlos Williams
  • “Writing is like getting married. One should never commit oneself until one is amazed at one's luck.” —Iris Murdoch
  • “The less conscious one is of being ‘a writer,’ the better the writing.” —Pico Iyer
  • “Writing is…that oddest of anomalies: an intimate letter to a stranger.” —Pico Iyer
  • “Writing is my dharma.” —Raja Rao
  • “Writing is a combination of intangible creative fantasy and appallingly hard work.” —Anthony Powell
  • “I think writing is, by definition, an optimistic act.” —Michael Cunningham
Current Faves - Learn more about poets featured frequently on the show