Friday, January 15, 2010

PK Page


PK Page
Nov. 23, 1916 - Jan. 14, 2010


My friend PK Page died yesterday and I’m happy for her. She was 93 and though she made a conscious decision a few years ago not to talk about her ailments, she had been in pain daily. She didn’t want to talk about her physical pain simply because there were so many other things in the world she was more interested in. The last time we met, we talked about her new children’s book (The Sky Tree illustrated by Kristi Bridgeman), representations of religious figures in art, pianos, radio, ipods, book printers, and W.B. Yeats.

I’m happy for her because she died at home, which she wanted to do. And, according to Louisa who cared for her daily through the last years of her life, PK had a good day the day before she died. What she wanted more than anything, was to be fully conscious when she faced death. She wanted to look straight at it and to experience it fully and the fact that she had a good day means to me that she may have done just that. Only PK can know. Given her interest in the mystical, in the world beyond our everyday sensation and consciousness, I’ve been looking for signs. If PK could send me a message, she would, I think. So the hair on my neck bristles when, hours after I hear the news about PK’s death, my daughter and I are talking about how we both feel sorry that Pluto is no longer a planet and we refuse to let it be a lesser rock, and when we look up, there is a car in front of us with a bumper sticker that says `Aw, shucks, let Pluto be a planet.’ Might not seem like much, but given PK’s interest in cosmology and her interest in coincidence, I have to think it matters.

PK matters. She leaves behind an immense emptiness because she was such a presence in my life. But she also leaves behind some of the most significant writing anyone in this country has done. In that way, her immortality is as sure as light from distant stars.

2 comments:

  1. I'm sad for your loss.
    Serendipity shows us how events work: the future appears in the now, in our conversations, taking place with unconscious knowledge about that future. We practice looking into the future by choosing, accepting one path, discarding another. This practice seems to allow serendipity room to maneuver. Nudges from the "other" side are helpful in many ways.
    PK Page met death with admirable courage. How inspiring.

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  2. I think it must be so great to get to an age where you want to face death knowing and experiencing all it has to offer...is a stage much like birth--with all its progressions that leads to something new...and how lovely to get to an age where you can consider embracing what is next in store for your soul...without fear.

    She left great gifts in the words she shared with us.

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