"Why Birds"
I just read an old interview with Anne Lamott on Salon.com about one of her recent publications at the time, the novel Imperfect Birds. She was asked about the title, and specifically Lamott's connection to birds, and I just love love love what she says...
Q: And, of course, you wrote “Bird by Bird.” Why birds?
A: I said in “Grace (Eventually)” that if birds were the only evidence that there is another side, or a deeper, bigger reality, birds and bird song would be enough proof for me. We are so bound, and they are so free — and yet so vulnerable. The little ones you might crush, and the big ones might peck your eyes out or dive-bomb you. They’re such alien creatures, so exquisite and yet springing from dinosaurs. And you can never look a bird in the eye — their eyes are on either side of their heads, and they’re so quizzical. They have to be — they are prey, and yet so hungry. Just like teenagers. Just like us.
Q: And, of course, you wrote “Bird by Bird.” Why birds?
A: I said in “Grace (Eventually)” that if birds were the only evidence that there is another side, or a deeper, bigger reality, birds and bird song would be enough proof for me. We are so bound, and they are so free — and yet so vulnerable. The little ones you might crush, and the big ones might peck your eyes out or dive-bomb you. They’re such alien creatures, so exquisite and yet springing from dinosaurs. And you can never look a bird in the eye — their eyes are on either side of their heads, and they’re so quizzical. They have to be — they are prey, and yet so hungry. Just like teenagers. Just like us.
Comments
Post a Comment
Leave me a message!