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A Thought for Today
Those who travel gentle in the world are
seldom recognized as gentlemen by others. It matters not, for gentleness
toward another human being is the thin line between personal success and
failure for each of us.
Ken,
Will you include some details of Rod McKuen's Book of Days and Month of
Sundays in a future Flight Plan, please? Were they compiled in a book?
Also, what were the Folios that I have seen referenced in the Flight
Plans?
I am an old fan who lost touch with Rod McKuen's books and music in the
early '70s. After reading a pre concert article in a local newspaper
earlier this spring, I have become a frequent visitor of "A Safe Place to
Land" and I am interested in reading and listening to all that I missed in
years past.
Thank you.
Deborah Sinding
Welcome to ASPTL, Deborah,
you've certainly come to the right place if it's McKuen information you're
after and boy, do you have a lot of catching up to do!
First up, your question
regarding the "Book of Days and Month of Sundays". It most certainly was
put together in book form and I can think of no-one better qualified to
explain the concept to you than Rod himself.
Here's the introduction.
To
the Authors from the Author
(Assuming many of you will write in this book along with me.)
Man has his seasons. His own times. And while nature makes the colors
change, the moons, the tides, man is more accountable for change than he
might know.
A Book of Days can be a diary, a collection of ideas, a series of dates to
be remembered, a means of putting order into otherwise orderless life, a
storehouse of maxims ( as well as ‘minimums’ ), a secret place to treasure
private thoughts, or a book to help rekindle the hearts or mind’s memory.
I have chosen to make my first Book of Days all of the above. Instead of
starting with January and following the calendar year - I don’t know
anyone who successfully keeps a diary that way - I began this book with my
favorite season, autumn, and worked from there through winter, spring, and
summer.
You will find no particular year set out in this book, because the
memories go back as far as my capacity to remember, the years covered are
many. Besides, if you plan to write in this book too, it’s unfair to tell
you where to begin or where to leave off.
There is space set out for every day of every month, but if you want to
remember whether the third of April of some year fell on a Thursday or a
Friday, you’ll have to remember to write it in for yourself.
For me, the best part of this book is the Month of Sundays near the end.
Sunday is always a good day for me. For one thing, the telephone doesn’t
ring. Parts of the day can be given over to God and to leisure (sleeping
late, reading the paper, playing with the animals).
Like everybody else, I have opinions on just about everything. Sometimes I
keep them to myself; more often they wind up in my books, letters,
interviews, and conversations. They change even while they are escaping.
Collected here are opinions, a little philosophy, some truths I’ve
learned, paragraphs that might be thought by some to be overly intimate,
and ideas I felt like sharing. And there is plenty of room for your own
ideas, memories, dates to remember, diary entries, and, right next to my
thoughts, your arguments for or against.
Have fun. I did.
- from "Rod McKuen's Book of
Days and Month of Sundays", 1981
"Folio" was a project, started
in 1974, designed primarily to introduce new McKuen poetry prior to it's
publication in book form. It was published four times a year and each
Folio ran to a couple of pages, beautifully produced on high quality paper
and usually including some wonderful illustrations.
The great thing about the
Folio series is that all profits were donated to the Animal Concern
Foundation, a charitable organization originally founded by Rod.
Both of the above items are
something any serious collector should make an effort to acquire and a
good starting place would be
Stanyan By Mail to see
if Dwight still has stock available.
Thanks for your letter,
Deborah, and have fun catching up.
The address for contributions
to this column is, as usual,
ken@mckuen.com and I'm looking forward to hearing from you very soon.
- Ken, Johannesburg,
November 7
Details of Rod's next
appearance can be obtained by following the link below.
"Tap
Your Troubles Away" - the music of Jerry Herman
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