Michael Lally: Poetry and Brain Surgery (Terence Winch)

 

On Friday, Nov. 13, 2009, poet and actor Michael Lally underwent brain surgery at Weill-Cornell hospital in Manhattan. The progression from normal existence to brain surgery took about two weeks—from the time he first experienced some enigmatic symptoms, to a host of tests, rapid research on doctors and hospitals, and the final choice of treatment.  A few days after the three-hour operation, further tests determined that the tumor was benign and the prognosis for full recovery excellent.

[at left: The Extraction of the Stone of Madness (The Cure of Folly), ca. 147580, by Hieronymus Bosch (ca.14501516). Removing “stones” from the head was a fairly common medieval operation; Bosch, however, depicts a flower as the object being removed.]

Readers of Michael’s excellent blog, Lally’s Alley, which is usually a vehicle for his passionately held opinions on politics, writing, music, movies, and art, along with his reflections on life and his seemingly uncontrollable need to create all manner of lists, have, in the last month or so, been given something else—the day-to-day chronicle of a poet regaining his cognitive abilities.  He had great difficulty at first putting words and sentences together; even listening to music or watching a movie were challenges. But over the past few weeks he has steadily gotten back his formidable powers of expression.  

  

It is clear, however, that Michael has, in very characteristic fashion, grown to value the traumatic and extraordinary experience he has been through, enjoying a soul-deep transformation in how he perceives the world around us.[photo: Will Farrell, His Holiness the Lally Dama, Terence Winch, Nov. 14, 2009]

 

Here’s a post he did from about a week after the operation (which I’ve re-arranged a little into a more poem-like shape):

 

500 DAYS OF SUMMER: After Brain Surgery

Could follow the simple plot

despite jumps in time.

Could appreciate the soundtrack.

But many finer points

I could not grasp.

Like where it’s set.

Seemingly a Midwest

version of L. A.

My mind kept objecting, kept asking,

WHERE ARE THESE PEOPLE?

And the connections between them

seemed false to me too.

Could not follow the young girl's

story or place in the story.

The big gaps in perception

making much of the film

seem almost atomized.

As if each scene,

each light,

each person, etc.

were uniquely and separately realized

without the usual fluid connection

between things that may be just in

our minds bridging those gaps for us.

What a strange trip this all is.

Comments

[robert zuckerman]

Thank you for this, Terence. Over the years, Michael Lally has unwittingly been my teacher. His writing has been instrumental is helping me find my own voice and expression. For this I will remain forever grateful and respectful. Regardless of the limitations of his physical state during recovery, his eloquence, honesty and compassion shine through.

Robert Z.

[Doug Pell]

It seems the rocks in Michaels head match the holes in ours.

[lally]

I didn't know I looked so cute in white.

[Chris Mason]

Michael Lally has been such a sane, funny, passionate, poetic voice for so many decades, and now to embody all those qualities in his recovery from brain surgery (see all his beautifully humble analyses of his post-surgery thought processes in his postings on Lally's Alley) - it's inspiring.

[Stacey]

This IS inspiring. Thank you Terence, for this moving post.
Stacey

[Katie]

Lally Dama! I love it! Thanks for sharing Uncle T.! (hope you are taking good care of my mom :-)) And wishing Michael a continued magical and inspiring recovery.

[Eileen Reich]

Great blog. Good news. Thanks for the uplifting information about Michael. Love Lally's Alley. Eileen

[RJ (Richard) Eskow]

Thanks for the re-formatting of Michael's words. It works!

And for the picture of Lally, looking like some medical Gandhi practicing satyagraha in the waiting room.

In fact mybe that's what we need, given the screwed-up health care system we have.

[Terence Winch]

Dear RJ:
Thanks for the comment.  (BTW, I'm a long-time Young Turks member & always enjoy your appearances on the show.)

[Jamie Rose]

Wonderful post Terrence. I love the transformation of Lal's words on 500 Days of Summer into a poem. Didn't he once say in his cocky (no pun intended...maybe) salad days that he "pissed poetry"? And indeed his brain seems to leak it (that time the pun was definitely intended.)

Much love,
Jamie

[Terence Winch]

Thanks, Jamie---it was great to meet you, finally, at the hospital.