The stem bent, pent in seed, grow straight
And stands. Pain breaks in song. Surprising
The merely dead, graves fill with light
Like opened eyes. He rests in rising. — Wendell Berry
We here at Mbird were saddened to hear of the recent death of Wendell Berry: a brilliant novelist, poet, essayist, and farmer. While most will remember Berry for being a gadfly of modernity who beckoned people to return to their roots, this would overlook the Christian beliefs that undergird his countercultural vision. Berry was, first and foremost, a Christian who believed in a God who clothes his people with a splendor that surpassed the flowers of the fields. Because within his environmentalism and agrarian ideals, there was a vision for a life that isn’t earned but received with gratitude; not of striving for more than we were made to have but the abounding peace of already having enough.
In that vein, Berry has been a constant source of inspiration for Mbird over the decades. Below are a few of our favorites (see here for a more exhaustive list).
“A People and a Place,” by Grace Leuenberger
Belonging to each other and to a place are two commitments increasingly falling out of fashion. Transience has long been typical, and settling down can be seen as settling. … And yet, as Berry asserts throughout Jayber Crow and his other work, our participation in community, even ones that disappoint us, is essential to the human experience — including the church. We were designed to need God and need each other.
“Wendell Berry Wants to Shoot a Drone,” by Josh Retterer
One of the central burdens of Berry’s writing has been to allow his readers to know themselves as recipients of God’s grace and to accept the great invitation to live as members of his body.
“Wendell Berry’s Plea for Grace” by Josh Retterer
A bit of wisdom that is catechized among the elders extant in the movement is learning to love limits and to be satisfied with little, as the parable goes according to Berry, otherwise, “To be satisfied with much is impossible.” These limits are imposed simultaneously by nature and by the limits needed for the structures to form relationships, both communal and familial. Limits are good, like the Law is good, but like the Law, those limits do not provide the means to accomplish it.
“Boomers and Stickers: Wendell Berry’s 2012 Jefferson Lecture,” by Ethan Richardson
“Boomer” names a kind of person and a kind of ambition that is the major theme, so far, of the history of the European races in our country. “Sticker” names a kind of person and also a desire that is, so far, a minor theme of that history, but a theme persistent enough to remain significant and to offer, still, a significant hope.
Poems by Wendell Berry:
- “Original Sin“
- “Remembering That It Happened Once…“
- Do Something That Won’t Compute
- “A Sleep Poem“
- “Enemies“
- “Marriage“
- “What Hard Travail God Does in Death“
- “Grace“
Thank you for honouring Berry – a real hero and Teacher of mine. Grateful to see some of the ways his work has influenced MBird over the years.
Wendell Berry taught us about our humanity from a divine lens, and divinity grounded in the dust of the earth , the trickle of a brook, and patient growth of great oaks. I will miss his voice and his living. A mentor of grace.
“When I rise up
let me rise up joyfully
like a bird.
When I fall
let me fall without regret
like a leaf.”
Wendell Berry
Sure appreciate this notice of the death of the Prophet and Bard. All the poems listed are marvelous — and I would urge reading “The Yellow-throated Warbler” as one of the greatest lyrical poems in the language AND so revealing of Wendell’s heart, mind, and concerns. Thanks much. May the great man RIP.
Finding out that the actor Nick Offerman is gaga for Wendell Berry has been so great to see . What a great life , and what a great tribute Mbird . Thank you