MAURICE SENDAK

[RonPrice]

In life all one does is scratch the surface of knowledge. This afternoon I scratched the surface after a late lunch, or perhaps it was an early evening meal. I was alone and everyone was away celebrating mothers’ day. In the late afternoon ABC1 television usually has what my wife and I have come to call “an arty-farty” segment. From 3:45 to 4:30 p.m. I watched an interview with an American writer and illustrator of children’s literature: Maurice Sendak.1 He is best known for his book Where the Wild Things Are, published in 1963.-Ron Price with thanks to “Tell Them Anything You Want,” ABC1 TV, 8 May 2011.

Life takes a meaning beyond your books,
eh Maurice? But to achieve something so
great as to give permanent satisfaction….
that is a test of the emotions, eh Maurice?
Your weakness and torments fade away…..
you say---when you go into your study and
create. This is your true happiness, magic &
you do it well and you know it, eh Maurice?

I know what you mean Maurice. My story is
a little different than yours, of course, none of
the fame and wealth……but the transcendence
and the concentration and the feeling…..“I’m a
lucky man.” Your needle got stuck in childhood
and mine got stuck in a new world Faith back in
my teens and it has been stuck there ever since.

We won’t take ourselves too seriously, eh Maurice?
We’ll laugh along the way and keep our sufferings
In low gear. Thanks Maurice for being there, thanks.

Ron Price
8 May 2011

[Maud Fitch]

Nice one, Ron.

[RonPrice]

Thanks for your encouraging response, Maud Fitch. I also liked that quote: "If real life were a book, it would never find a publisher" by Jasper Fforone. I had not seen that one before.-Ron