Circles are all around us. Galway Kinnell knew this. Much of his poetry explores the organic and spiritual patterns of human and animal motivation. He says of his son in “Fergus Falling”: “He climbed to the top / of one of those million white pines / ...probably to get out / of the shadow / ...of his father....”

Galway’s fade into spirit is as instructive as his poetry. I last saw him on August 7 at the Vermont Statehouse for a celebration of his life and art. He was frail and, sadly, nearly uncommunicative when asked for closing remarks. His son came to his side and said the thank-yous Galway was struggling to say. He already had that faraway focus that spoke to me of his impending journey to another place.

I used to play tennis with Galway at Lyndon State College and in St. Johnsbury. I’m very competitive. When playing doubles with Galway in the mix, I could lighten up and enjoy the game and give up caring about the outcome. But when he and I played singles, I took it personally. I attacked the net and put those games away quickly. He was always surprised to see how much more effective I was as a singles player than as a doubles player. I didn’t have the nerve to say that was because I have always wanted to write a better poem than he, or at least one that competed in the same arena. I never could. I never did. So I turned to prose.

When Rango came out a few years ago, my friend Pam and I saw it independently and compared notes afterward. We were both surprised by how we liked it. She remarked (and I'm paraphrasing here), "Yeah, who woulda thought that the schmuck who made those stupid Pirates of the Caribbean movies had something like this in him?"

I felt the same. The Pirates movies are, in my opinion, pretty dumb: big, needlessly complicated and bursting with messy and overwrought computer animation. Even the great Bill Nighy couldn't redeem those movies for me. But Rango is smart, funny and exceedingly enjoyable. Not long after seeing it in the theater (which, memorably, had a leak in its roof — a hilarious coincidence, given that the film's story revolves around water), I purchased the film on Blu-Ray, and have watched it several times since.