Jim/Jimmymac/Skippy Hietter Remembrance and Festival by the Sea

Jim/Jimmymac/Skippy Hietter Sept 16 1930 - March 14, 2018

           Festival by the Sea  May 12,2018

_{Remembrance and Celebration with gratitude and love always  from Mike and Cyndy}

_{We were about to have our morning dose of “Ask Any Bird” when the call came  from Jim  with the theme  he had been considering – his own death – I want to “keep the fun in funeral, I want a ”funstival”  a celebration of my life ,in which every one …a celebration in which  will read one of my favorite poems and with my favorite classical music  played.”}  We have a video  some where waiting to be found in cyber space of Jim in his visor with wig attached reading his own epitaph … an unpublished poem humorously called  “Boo hoo hoo “– that goes-“At the count of 3 all together cry  “Boo. Hoo, hoo! If you are crying more than that, _{if you are not laughing , you have come to the wrong party!” And so we are all here at Jim’s party, together for his  “funstival’ and Festiva by the sea” as he wished , to celebrate the gift he will always be in each of our lives. There is a special story of how he became and will always be a part of each of  our lives.}

_{Like some other dear friends here today we first met Jim back in the early 70’s through another beloved former Jesuit friend Tom McCormack ( we read selections from Jim’s poems at Tom’ memorial service.) Jim and Tom, Gerry Clark, Bob Tocci , Frank Tricomio were – charter members of SWIRL- South Weymouth Irish Retreat League,the house in Weymouth Ma,  retreats as in get together to eat, drink, smoke, pot talk and laugh. Cyndy and I were associate/visiting members. We knew Jim then as the very articulate  and controversial editor of the SJ News and a wild,, funny person  and wonderful poet. Actually the very first time we met ,it had been stormy and spectacular – and Cyndy and Jim exclaimed  together on first meeting –“Did you see that- a double rainbow!” And so a  natural connection was formed.}

_{Jim left the Boston area and we lost contact until about 2011 when mutual dear friend Bob Tocci re-introduced us to Jim’s captivating poetry, Since we had last seen him he had left the Jesuits after at age 46b after 26 years, moved to NOLA where he taught ar LSU,  written over 2000 poems and self- published his 3 poetry books…}

_{We contacted Jim to visit in March of 2012 during our motorhome touring. Jim had made arrangements for us to park our RV in a Loop neighbor’s backyard… not having seen him for 37 years and wondering how we’d locate him he said- “I’ll be holding the big polka dot sun umbrella” and he was as he greeted us laughing! That became the first of our annual March Madness/poetry festivals with Jim, usually over St Patrick’s Day we would he would share his creations – sometimes wearing his visor hat with the wig attached , often stopping to laugh aloud and comment, “that’s really good!”,}

 _{We would go out to a favorite restaurant, talking all the while (never Lamberts up the road which he decried because of their motto “Home of the Throwed Rolls”- he thought that was just too de classe )   and then  we would return to watch the surprisingly (to us) riveting March Madness basketball playoffs and finals. What a combination of brilliant intellect and sports fan! (college football, basketball and professional golf) He even had an Alabama bedspread and Bear Bryant memorial hat on top of it! Just this past visit we heard the weekly phone call greeting}  (“roll tide” = U of Ala vs his brother's alma mater Auburn “ war eagle”_{-  Three or four days of this was so much fun and would go  by all too quickly. Cyndy and I would start most days at home and on the road reading aloud one or two of Jim’s gems Throughout the year we’d call periodically  and have long distance readings and discussions. He was special guest author via skype 2 years ago  at Cyndy’s monthly book club ( going for 25 plus years) Jim really enjoyed that and every  opportunity to share his poems.}

_{Jim was really pretty good on the computer and he felt he had a new audience for his writing when Cyndy helped him set up his blog www.lunacybird.blogspot.com  he’s hit an internet impasse and call for technical assistance from Cyndy with the comical plea – “I’m losing my miiiiiiiinnnnnddd!”}

_{Every March Madness poetry festival/visit was so special to us- we kept notes…}

_{From #3- When we were leaving tearfully  – Jim had the other music on he listened to – Elvis. And Elvis was singing  the hymn  “How Great Thou Art” .Making humor in the midst of sad leaving I joked – How appropriate Jim ,”How great thou art”. And he rejoindered instantly - “I know”.}

_{Another nickname was Jimmymac as in the 60’s song by Martha and the Vandellas ( Jim would ask- What’s a Vandella?)}

_{**Jimmymac “when are you coming back? “  Everytime we read  one of his gems...}

_{#4- Jim goes to sleep each night thinking - If I don't wake up that's OK and when he does- he greets the day as his peom declares with a “hey,hey,hey ,with the attitude of gratitude  , another gift of another day  in what he says is the happiest part of his life - wonderful friends, home, music- Sibelius to Elvis- , reading , creating  poetry when the muse whispers , birds, the sky by day and night even  college football, basketball and pro golf . We talked of death and he declared he  is not afraid, still believes in the "divine mind" working through all time...His "ironic epiphany" and  turning point had been about age 28 when a voice in his head asked- "What do you believe?" and he replied,
"Oh the usual, about god and how to be good..."and the voice said, "No, I asked what do YOU believe, not what you were told to believe." And that was his chosing the "divergent path  that made all the difference." Echoes of his "Ask Any Bird" - "With these words I sing my simple song of peace- The only war I want to win is the one within  where there are no losers except the demons that tried to prevent me from finding my melody...Peace in , Peace out"...}

_{#5- He bravely and honestly shared that he was “losing his grip” and  in mental response he wrote Miss Dementia) and turning the brain’s memory center from “hippocampus to  Skipocampus and playfully  nicknaming  himself “Skippy”. Noting he was correspondingly   physically losing his hand dexterity and strength so we got him some hand exercise balls to use and he suggested when we call we ask him if he was “Squeezing his balls.”}

 _{We’d leave Jim and head for New Orleans. Once we stood outside 2231 Royal in the Marigny  where he lived for 17 years teaching at LSU -  and alledgedly where Tennessee Williams had Stanley bellow out "Stella" ...}

_{We fell so strongly there should be an  historical plaque - Here lived poet "Alabama Hietter"}

_{What a remarkable word smith- so accessible, but challenging also  – get out the biggest, the Oxford English  Dictionnary for the meaning of   hypnpompic, noetic , etiolated…}

_{Jim was delighted that we were so appreciative of his pomes and designated us his “archivists”  Cyndy was looking with Jim through his files and unearthed   The Southern Review – Spring 1983 (published by LSU quarterly) Who should therein be published along with  famed writers Joyce Carol Oates and Robert Penn Warren but James Glennon Hietter,  Fame is a rather} random happenstance ,why one voice gains an wider audience while another just as worthy or more so does not…We would read poems from The New Yoker for example  many just too abstract, strange or “irrelevant” compared to Jim’s gems…

we took  every opportunity we could  to bring his voice to a world that needs it so much and we always will (and If anyone has any suggestions, please share them with us…The  more we read, the more we uncover the richness and talent with which Jim captured his experience and wrote it into what he called “a lens for the living” In his 3 volumes are profound sometimes satiric reflections on being, mortality, the worst and best we humans can do to each other and the only planet we have as in –

The Missing Monarchs of May –

According to the calendar the Monarchs

Should be coming back from Mexico in gold

And black migration.Where are they?

Caught smuggling illegal beauty across

The border and made to work n the pants

Factories of El Paso? Or forced to study ESL

At UCLA or LSU? Narcotized by TV,VCRs

Moving ,CDs,DVDs,watching MTV,VH1,ABC

NBC.CBS while munching on BLTsand sipping

J&B,high on LSD,fleeing the FBI,CIA,KGB

KKK,NRA,PLO,IRS, by now their DNA has

Faded and ID is indistinct.  All modems initialized ,

We’re moving in the fast lane,Dude,no longer weighed ?

Down by words. Besides, who has time for butterflies

Jim was a Jesuit from the age of 20 – 46 He transformed all that experience into Shelving and RE –Selving” He literally and courageously  had to shelve the life he had known and re-create or re-selve himself…writing

“XSJ”

Once upon a time,

I was a member of

The least Society of Jesus:

Youthful days of discipline

And heightened happiness.

Companions of Ignatious,

You taught me how to think;

I thought my way

Beyond your walls:

The risk that education takes.

Living the life he loved in his own special home, grateful for  the circle of the family and friends he loved so much Jim would say repeatedly “ Coop makes it possible for me to stay in the “Loop”…Has there ever been a more devoted , humble , generous friend…

Jim wrote these words of respect and thanks when Coop turned 50

            _{The Big Five-O}

_{Chiroman, with his hands straightens spines,}

_{with his laughter straightens minds.}

_{,Diogenes, surprisingly has finally found}

_{What he was looking for. (the truly  honest and good man.)}

_{not a title but a reality}

_{for he never has to ask,}

_{“Who is my neighbor?”}

_{Thank you oh so much from Jim and  all of us Lyle and Denise!}

_{Jim had an exemplary and true joie de vivre  and sense of contentment as he voiced in}

_{Greet the Day}

_{Greet the day}

_{with a hey,hey,hey.}

_{Face it}

_{with the face you had}

_{before you were born,}

_{scotching he worm at the heart of being ,}

_{skirting the galaxy’s black hole.}

_{Integer of Infinity,}

_{Divine Mind is in you.}

_{Turn down the static}

_{and hear it say:}

_{“You want more}

_{when what you have}

_{is everything.”}

_{Sept 2010}

_{At his home on the Loop Jim reveled in his connection with Nature getting such magnified joy reflecting on the sky – the clouds, the stars, his visiting birds, \His book of poems “Lunacy” is devoted entirely to the phases and relationships with the moon.  It ends with his poem}

_“If”

_{I you miss me when I’m gone,}

_{you’ll find me in the morning star,}

_{that never dims her lights ,}

_{when cars approach,}

_{and also in the moon,}

_{waxing , waning ,gibbous, full,}

_{especially in the morning}

_{when you walk your dog.}

_{as well as certain stars}

_{Syrius and the bright corners of Orion,}

_{sunset to sunrise too ,}

_{but not that ride of fire between.}

_{Lift your eyes to the skies ;}

_{I will be there,}

_{not everywhere but almost  2/14/ 06}

_{His piece of the world form his window and backyard  was so simple. but the he cherished it so much! And wove it into his most heartfelt poems as in Canopus, how he reconnected after the loss of his beloved “Polly” who spoke and speaks to him in the eternal rising star...She had with fun and affection called Jim  her “fuddy, duddy daddy down in Dixieland}

_{He exemplified in his life  so many of the most wonderful – powerful/crystal clear/wise/witty lines of his over 2000 poems…}

_{One of his witty phrases captures his spirit and poetic essence = "Is-ness is his business."}

_{His poems really combine the profound with the comical}

There are many lines from many of Jim’s poems which are just spectacular and inspiring – and absolutely hilarious…

First some of his most inspiring lines ….

_{From “Periwinkle”}

_{…Oh, nature, nature,}

_{Learn me your lesson}

_{That when others leave}

_{I will not grieve}

_{But be a lens}

_{For light}

_{To touch}

_{The Living”}

_{From “Altair There”}

_{…the self must be full}

_{Not less}

_{In order to join}

_{The great chorus}

_{Of free spirits}

_{Singing Yes}

_{To the Universe}

_{From “Adam’s Wall”}

_{…They live, they live}

_{In the light and laughter}

_{Of all that is new}

_{They live in the now}

_{Of nature’s eternal renewal}

_{From “Wildflower”}

_{…and human nomenclature}

_{Can never, ever bedim}

_{Our bright salute to life.}

_{And the hilarious =}

_Menu

_{Hello. You have reached Hietter House.}

_{Please listen carefully as our menu options}

_{Have been redesigned to serve you better.}

_{If you are calling from a Touch Tone phone,}

_{Please press, now, as many buttons as you}

_{Can at the same time- if you hold your fingers}

_{Horizontal rather than perpendicular to the}

_{Buttons , the maximum number can be depressed.}

_{If you wish to speak to a living human being, pour}

_{Yourself a stiff drink, get comfy, and press P for patience.}

_{If you are calling from a cell phone and ready to toss}

_{It out the window, please press S, then O, then S.}

_{If you are calling from a pay phone and ready to}

_{Rip it off the wall, pound the pound key instead.}

_{If by now you are totally frustrated and tempted to strangle}

_{Yourself with the phone cord, please press K for Kevorkian.}

_{If however you are calling to contribute to the Jimmy}

_{Fund or to publish the Hietter poems, please stay on}

_{The line, and an agent will respond immediately.}

  _or

_{The Check is in the Mail”}

_{“The check is in the mail,” she said,}

_{two weeks ago. Could have but didn’t}

_{as in “snail mail”, the e-mail club’s condescending tag for US postal service.}

_{The check is in the mail,}

_{and I’m adding “the lost mail}                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

_{since it never arrived.}                  

_{Now what happened to that check?}

_{The possibilities are multiple.}

_{Perhaps it was never written,}

_{or if written never mailed,}

_{or never mailed,}

_{or if mailed slipped between a crack}

_{at the sending or receiving post office,}

_{or maybe went astray , or was intercepted}

_{or stolen, or possibly that snail with the check}

_{strapped to its back coming down the interstate}

_{strayed outside the gastropod lane and}

_{got squshed by an SUV or an eighteen wheeler , or}

_{excuse me ,I have to break off here;}

_{there’s a snail knocking at my door.}

_{July 7, 2003}

_{After life –}

_{Jim spoke and wrote of an eternal “ever was and ever  will be” “Divine Mind” that is the all of life. We all have ideas and hopes of what comes after this life…In one sense we live as long as anyone remembers us for the life and love we shared here... and who will ever forget Jim?  Our best mornings start with reading and reflecting on Jim’s poems, and it strikes us very powerfully that as a  poet he lives on very happily and vitally in his poems- his continuing gifts to and  conversations with us…}

_{Here are two to end and begin with –}

_{(Unpublished –}

_{The Last Day _copy in folder)}

_{This is the last day of your life.}

_{Well it could be.}

_{So order the best thing on the menu}

_{and don’t take home a doggie bag.}

_{And do not tell anyone;}

_{it would ruin all the rhythms.}

 _{On the way to that final supper,}

_{make up your bed}

_{and straighten the house,}

_{but don’t fix anything that’s broken.}

 _{Listen to your favorite symphony}

_{for the last time,}

_{and check the patterns}

_{of light and shadow ,}

_{as though for the first time ,}

_{but do not try to name,}

_{all the shades of blue}

_{the sky can wear in one day.}

_{And by all means,}

_{Seek out any friends}

_{who can make you laugh;}

_{their energy will be your fuel}

_{that you will need}

_{for the journey}

_{you are about to take.}

_{March 24, 2005}

_{Brevity and Longevity –}

_{You and I will fade}

_{like everything that’s made,}

_{gifts on temporary loan.}

_{And yet within there dwells}

_{a being of no beginning , no end;}

_{it can be known but not named}

_{since words belong}

_{to the world of what is made.}

_{It’s everywhere and always,}

_{present in this moment;}

_{take a deep, deep, breath}

_{and let it come to you,}

_{easy, fresh and welcome}

_{as a schoolboy’s Saturday morning.}

_{July 11,2009}