{"id":2075,"date":"2012-04-27T12:38:10","date_gmt":"2012-04-27T16:38:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/?p=2075"},"modified":"2013-10-28T13:03:25","modified_gmt":"2013-10-28T17:03:25","slug":"mcnair-to-hall-september-2-1981","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/mcnair-to-hall-september-2-1981\/","title":{"rendered":"McNair to Hall: September 2, 1981"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n
\"McNair-to-Hall-09-02-1981\"<\/a>\"McNair-to-Hall-09-02-1981\"<\/a>\"McNair-to-Hall-09-02-1981\"<\/a>\"McNair-to-Hall-09-02-1981\"<\/a><\/p>\n

[Click image to view]<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

September 2, 1981<\/p>\n

Dear Don,<\/p>\n

Rising early in the morning seems to be the only
\nway of writing this letter to you–a letter I have
\nbeen \u201cabout to write\u201d for a very long time. So I\u2019ve
\nrisen early, after staying up until nearly two
\nthis morning covering a couch<\/span>.<\/p>\n

I do not recall if I told you that Diane and
\nI decided to have some renovations done on the
\nhouse during this summer. In fact, we made the
\ncontract with our builders shortly before her accident.
\nHave you ever gone through a period of renovation?
\nI never guessed how time-consuming this thing
\nwould be. It has of course gone on at the very
\ntime Diane has been recuperating–terrible<\/span> timing,
\nbut the builders couldn\u2019t work us into their schedule
\nlater on, and we had to get certain things such as
\nroofing and re-clapboarding done before winter.
\nAlso, we needed to have our porch repaired–
\nthe boards were in woeful shape. We combined
\nthat exterior work with renovation of the kitchen
\nand bathroom, and with other projects such as
\nrecovering the couch. The builders have only just
\nleft, so that the \u201cother projects\u201d can begin. Thus,<\/p>\n

2\/<\/p>\n

our summer, which began with getting Diane back on
\nher feet and dealing with the builders, now concludes
\nwith finishing touches on the renovation. I am bound
\nand determined to get all that stuff done before my
\nsabbatical officially begins so I can (finally)
\nsettle down to long days of writing. At this point,
\nI am deeply<\/span> frustrated, dying to get going on
\npoems!!<\/p>\n

I am, however, also<\/span> pleased with Diane\u2019s recovery.
\nShe threw away her crutches some weeks ago and
\nis now up and around with only occasional, and
\nminor relapses. Her physical therapist thinks her
\nrecuperation is near-miraculous, and so do I.
\nA week ago, we learned that she has been granted
\nworker\u2019s compensation. More good news!<\/p>\n

I have managed to revise my book manuscript.
\nSo I am totally free for new work, come two
\nweeks from now. I have<\/span> decided to call it
\nThe Faces of Americans in 1853<\/span>. I have also
\nremoved \u201cThe Poetic License\u201d from the \u201cFaces\u201d
\nsection of the book, so that the affirmative<\/p>\n

[Written in left margin at last line, above<\/em>:
\nForgot to mention
\nI\u2019ve also removed
\nthe \u201cdirty\u201d poems
\nand \u201cBeggars.\u201d
\nPerhaps they are
\npoems for a
\ndifferent book – ]<\/p>\n

3\/<\/p>\n

connection with Rufus Porter (central figure in
\nthe as-of-now last two poems in the section)
\nleads without irony to the last section and its
\nreconciliation with self and place. I have
\nretitled two of the sections (the last, for instance,
\nis called \u201cWhere I Live\u201d), and I\u2019ve added three
\nnew poems, all of which you\u2019ve seen.<\/p>\n

This week, I begin to retype the book, so
\nyou can see it sometime next week. I am
\nquite happy with the new form. It makes a lot
\nmore sense, I think, as a \u201cjourney.\u201d I hope you
\nlike it, and I hope to God I can finally get
\nrid of it. I must move on<\/span> from the book and
\nits needs to new work, new concerns!<\/p>\n

I hope your own writing is going well. Two days
\nago, I was visited by a friend who brought back
\nmy copy of Kicking the Leaves<\/span>, and I reread it.<\/p>\n

It really is a wonderful book, far better than
\nany reviews have said, even though the reviews
\nwere generally positive. The elegiac feeling is
\nso strong in it, and so elegantly expressed!
\n\u201cNames of Horses,\u201d \u201cFlies,\u201d \u201cBlack Faced Sheep,\u201d<\/p>\n

4\/<\/p>\n

poem after poem hits me over the head. Also, I returned
\nto the concluding pages of String Too Short To Be Saved<\/span>,
\nthis time noticing a description of the present which
\nreminds me of a poem you sent me in manuscript
\ncalled \u201cThe Intersection.\u201d (The description I mean
\nis in the Epilogue, \u201cBeing Here.\u201d) I have not yet
\nlooked up the poem, but I would guess the description
\nwill help me with it. Anyway, I like the (new) part
\nof the book very much–almost took it as an
\nepigraph for my book, but it wasn\u2019t quite<\/span> the right
\nthing.<\/p>\n

Got the two copies of The Atlantic<\/span> a few days ago,
\nand I was most thrilled. I do thank you and
\nJoey again for making that happen.<\/p>\n

Please pass on regards to Jane. I hope she
\nhas got beyond the Great Sorrow of awhile
\nback.<\/p>\n

And I send this to Danbury, assuming
\nthat by now you are back there. Best to you,
\nJane, Wesley Wells, the animals and all
\nat Eagle Pond Farm and environs!<\/p>\n

And Love,<\/p>\n

Wes<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n\n

\n <\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[Click image to view] September 2, 1981 Dear Don, Rising early in the morning seems to be the only way of writing this letter to you–a letter I have been \u201cabout to write\u201d for a very long time. So I\u2019ve risen early, after staying up until nearly two this morning covering a couch. I do […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2206,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[35323,35504,42976,42963,293],"tags":[],"builder_content":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2075"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2206"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2075"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2075\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9776,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2075\/revisions\/9776"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2075"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2075"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2075"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}