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Archiver > AMXROADS > 2001-11 > 1005019786


From: "Carolyn McDaniel" <>
Subject: [AMXROADS] Circles of Kinship and Community
Date: Mon, 5 Nov 2001 20:09:46 -0800


Dear Cousins,
If you are not familiar with the life and writing of Wendell
Berry, you are missing a human phenomenon, a man who gives the world
lessons in wisdom and beauty, and lives by what he propounds. A very
rare thing. Mr. Berry lives in Henry County, KY, the homeland of his
ancestors, and mine. Unfortunately, I've never been to Henry
County, nor have I met Mr. Berry, although I regard him with the
reverence due a national treasure.
You can find a bit of biography about him at the following
site:
http://www.english.eku.edu/SERVICES/KYLIT/BERRY.HTM
And more links to his works and philosophies:
http://www.alteich.com/links/berry.htm
Here is one of his poems I especially like, as contained on
the "Thoughts Worth Thinking Page"
http://www.rjgeib.com/thoughts/berry/berry.html

The Peace of Wild Things
When despair grows in me
and I wake in the middle of the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting for their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

My Smith, Watts, Markham etc. family had connection to the Berry
family, and when they rode on to Missouri, lived in Cass, Johnson,
Jackson, and Calloway Counties.

Love, Your Cousin, Carolyn

Carolyn McDaniel
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