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Urban recluses

Intriguing little report in the “Helsingin Sanomat” by Illka Malmberg entitled “Life and Death of an Urban Hermit.” Relates the story of a man who lived as a recluse in Helsinki and died unnoticed in his home, and of the long passage of time in which no one discovered the fact. While a common theme in local newspapers, presented with a macabre air, this piece is thoughtful and well-written, though as journalism without a solution to the premised problem. About the whole issue, the writer concludes reflectively:

Finland has its its share of rural hermits, often doubling as the village idiot or the local eccentric, and they have been left alone to live in peace.
Then when one day they are found dead by the postman or the meter-reader, the people living round about do not go beating their breasts and worrying about guilt and “what should we have done” – the deceased had lived the life he or she always wanted.
But hermits living in a big city are another matter altogether. We have yet to come to terms with the phenomenon, and this is the reason it makes news and causes people to ask if it “could have been prevented”, or if it is a reflection of our readiness to let the welfare nanny-state take on all social responsibilities for us, including “love thy neighbour”.

URL: http://www.hs.fi/english/article/
Life+and+death+of+an+urban+recluse/1135234722129

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Martha Ainsworth: Episcopal solitary

Article by Paul O’Donnell in New York Magazine titled “Hermit of the Heart,” with subtitle: “With no convent but the city itself, one woman finds a prayerful solitude as a contemplative order of one.” About Martha Ainsworth’s attempt to define a religious vocation as a solitary approved canonically by the local Episcopal bishop. Interesting example of being a hermit in the crowd.
URL: http://nymag.com/guides/mindbody/2008/42818/

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Lew Welch: “Hermit Poems”

Lew Welch was one more tragic figure of the Beat Generation poets. His poems were honed and persuasive little images, as in his “Hermit Poems” series, of which “The image, as in a Hexagram” is an example.

The image, as in a Hexagram

The hermit locks his door against the blizzard.
He keeps the cabin warm.

All winter long he sorts out all he has.
What was well started shall be finished.
What was not, should be thrown away.

In spring he emerges with one garment
and a single book.

The cabin is very clean.

Except for that, you’d never guess
anyone lived there.

When Welch read this poem in Santa Barbara in 1967 he added, after the first line, “as in the I Ching.” He mentions in the introduction to the series that a poem is a score for voice and that he never reads a poem the same way each time.

A wonderful audio collection (no text) of Welch introducing and reading his “Hermit Poems” (and other poems) is held at the website of the University of Pennsylvania Center for Programs in Contemporary Writing. URL: http://writing.upenn.edu/pennsound/x/Welch.html