Wednesday, July 13, 2011

portraits of a moment

Robert Lax, Photo by Hartmut Geerken
"For many years Robert Lax has refused the challenge of acceleration posed by our hectic world.  Long before Virilio's critique of speed, he pitted his *slow down* against the tempo and bustle of the modern city, determined not to keep up with its frantic pace.  He resisted quite consciously, if in quite private way, acting as a spanner in the works.  Throughout his life he has literally trained himself to do everything as slowly as possible.
...
Thanks to this deliberate slowness, the poet has been able to capture countless precious moments in his laconic poems, episodes, fables and diary entries.  These are moments outside of time, outside of our time, scintillating particles of a cycle that stretches out across our time, and that can be summoned at any moment by one and all -- which is what makes them so overwhelming for the reader and listener."
-Sigrid Hauff, "A Line in Three Circles - The Inner Biography of Robert Lax",  p. 58, 2007, Bayerischer Rundfunk, Munich/Germany

Amounting to Nothing, Brother Paul

  Brother Paul Quenon, Photo by Rhonda J. Miller .  Sorry monk that I am, I never amounted to nothing. Somebody must have laid a curse on me...