Re: Peggy: An Introduction

Malcolm Lawrence (malcolm@wolfenet.com)
Fri, 21 Nov 1997 21:49:26 -0800 

Tim O'Connor wrote:

> > You know: the kind of picture that can make you feel better
> > just by looking at it. You really feel as if you're peering at a zen
> >master in
> > his....(what else? lol) bathrobe.
>
> I think you've caught it exactly.  He seems: at peace.
>
> Which, in a sense, makes it profoundly disturbing that someone snagged him
> at that moment (did he react a moment later to the SNICK of the camera?
> did his dog?), yet the picture does, indeed, seem very tranquil.

Well the very first thing I looked for as I was looking at the pic, was to see
if there was anything about his facial expression or body language which would
imply that he knew that he was being photographed. And THAT was the weird
thing...is that...he kinda looks like he DID know he was being photographed. I
don't know. Judge for yourself. Perhaps he had already met and approved of the
writer and photographer before, agreed to let them take only a shot or two, so
let them have one that was a real winner just because he knew they'd be
sympathetic in the article. I dunno. You look at the pic and he seems so
placid, so loving, and also a tad mischievous...I daresay he looks as if he
was actually enjoying being photographed. He looks...in a word...happy. Go
figure.

>  I'd be
> really curious about the title of the book, because if it is a good
> reproduction of the photograph, I'd love to get a copy.

It's a wonderful reproduction. I mean, it makes you want to cut it out with an
exactoknife and pitch the rest of the book. I've been a fan of Maxfield
Parrish's stuff for a very long time...in fact where I live is very Maxfield
Parrish-like, especially at the height of autumn, and the reproduction of this
pic is so good that it looks very much like something Maxfield Parrish would
have done (or used as a model). I promise to post the title of the book in a
day or two.

> I know this sounds as if I'm contradicting myself a good half-dozen times,
> but I never claimed to be rational at this time of night.  (I suspect that
> the period between midnight and two a.m. -- for those of us asleep and
> writing SOMETHING on paper or keyboard -- should be reserved for love
> letters and reflections on the day, and probably not for messages destined
> for mailing lists....)
>
> But there I go, contradicting myself yet again!

Are you kidding? Some of my best reflections on the day/love letters I've sent
to this mailing list. I love this list.

Malcolm