Thursday, May 10, 2012

How It All Began

My search for Tennessee began many years ago, but I never realized I was searching for him until now. The great Tennessee Williams. The greatest, (in my opinion), American playwright of all time.

Although he is no longer physically with us, his legacy and spirit lives on, and seems more alive than ever to me. It pains me to great lengths to know that a human being with such feeling, love, and humanity is now resting in a place where he did not wish to rest in peace. Who am I to say that he is not where he physically belongs, other than the fact that he said he wanted to be thrown to rest at sea, as close as possible, to the cooridinates where Hart Crane, the writer he said he felt he most related to, jumped overboard, and committed suicide.

I will never really know Tennessee,(I will omit journalistic rule here and only refer to Tennessee by first name, and not "Williams" as I feel it will deprive the story I'm trying to tell), but I feel that righfully so, a man who gave so much of himself to the world, or any person for that matter, should have their dying wishes honored.

Tennessee is buried next to his sister Rose, in St. Louis, Missouri.  If he had to choose to rest in peace anywhere other than where he wished to be, I feel in my heart, that the only other place he would choose to be is near his beloved sister Rose.

This may seem like an unlikely place to begin my story, but sometimes we must look at the end to find the beginning.

Tennessee Talks Hart Crane

1 comment:

  1. Amy,
    It was wonderful reading your blog and sharing your love of TW. His work is extraordinary, as you have stated. I am awed and saddened by his point of view and the circumstances which led him to speak of his pain through his work,
    I often told my students that nothing comes out of a vacuum and TW's works exemplify this idea.


    Thanks for turning me on to all of this.
    Yours,
    Michele
    (Auntie Q)

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