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| Statue of Ken Kesey, Eugene, Ore. |
This beauty from a Paris Review interview with Ken Kesey, as quoted in an extraordinarily moving essay about him in the Summer 2010 issue of The Missouri Review:
I’m for mystery, not interpretive answers. The answer is never the answer. What’s really interesting is the mystery. If you seek the mystery instead of the answer, you’ll always be seeking. I’ve never seen anybody really find the answer, but they think they have. So they stop thinking. But the job is to seek mystery, evoke mystery, plant a garden in which strange plants grow and mysteries bloom. The need for mystery is greater than the need for an answer.
The essay, “Between the Sailor and the Sail: The Faith of Ken Kesey,” is by M. C. Armstrong and in itself is worth the price of the issue, which is packed with all kinds of other goodies.
Joseph Hutchison, Colorado Poet Laureate 2014-2019, has published 20 collections of poems and edited or co-edited three poetry anthologies. He currently directs two master’s-level programs for University College at the University of Denver: Professional Creative Writing and Arts & Culture Management. Joe lives with his wife, Melody Madonna, in the mountains southwest of Denver, Colorado, the city where he was born. 
visiting my friend, Chip, Jamie, and et al<br />in Corvallis, 1973 or 74 we-all<br />went to a party up a bit north of "Cornvalley" and south of Eugene<br /><br />out in the woods on Ken Kesey's bus… I think that it was the second bus..<br /><br />He was there. So was Hunter Thompson wearing "cool"<br />sunglasses and a single barrel 12-gauge shot gun resting on his
Great quote from Kesey here. What he's talking about here has a great deal to do with why I've avoided MFA writing programs and English departments generally.<br /><br />I first heard of Ken Kesey when I read Tom Wolfe <i>The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test</i> one summer during high school, would have been 1970. I liked the book in itself, and it got me interested, and sometime during the
Thanks for catching that weird error, Annie. I've corrected those wayward links…
Hi Joe,<br />When you click on the Paris Review or Interview link, both take you to Blogger.com (The Missouri Review one works though.) Thanks!