A2 - Wednesday, May 26, 1982 - North Shore News

the wild side of his nature.

In an interview in this
month's New Age Magazine,
Bly says that he has been
aware for a while that the
modern young male, while
mellow and laid-back, 1s
almost dying from a flack of
vitality.

According to Bly, the
feminist movement
produced, as a side-effect, a
state of affairs whereby a
whole generation of males
has come along — soft
males, Bly calls them — who
are turned off by their own
natural masculine energy.

“Perhaps,” he says, “it’s
because back in the ’60s,
when we looked to the
women’s movement for leads
as to how we should be, the
message we got was that the
new strong women wanted
softmen.” °¢

I think the poet is on to
something.

Ata recent party, I looked
around the room and noticed
that, gee, things had sure
changed from the ‘50s and
60s. For one thing, none of
the men were getting drunk
and fighting.

We were all pleasant,
charming, as eloquent as we
could be, and the women
were respectfully listened to
when they spoke.

YAWN.

I mean, this isn't to
suggest that in order to be
men we have to fall back on
slugging it out, grunting and
shouting obscenities,
writhing about in the beer
and the blood and _ the
hostess’s crockery

But 1 think I understand
perfectly what Bly ts saying

In a reference to The
Odyssey. Bly mentions an
episode where the younger
menin the crew had trouble
distinguishing
showing — the
hurting someone

“They had learned so well
not to hurt anyone that they

between

sword and

couldn't lft the sword, even
to catch the Light of the sun
ont.” the poet observes

Recently. while teaching
ata conference tor men only
in New Meanmo Bly says he
was astounded by the
amount of gnef and anguish
mi the younger males

Part of the yricf was a
remoteness from thes
fathers which they felt

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by Bob Hunter

Lifting the sword

HERE IS a rather compelling twist — one of
America’s leading poets, Robert Bly, says the task
of the male in the ’80s is to get back in touch with

keenly, but part, too, came
from trouble in their
marriages or relationships.

They had learned to be
receptive, and it wasn't
enough to carry. their
marriages.

“In every relationship,” he
adds, “something fierce is
needed once in a while: both
the man and the woman
need to have it. At the point
where it was needed, often
the young man didn’t have it.

“He was nurturing, but
something else was required
— for the relationship, for
his life. The male was able to
say, ‘I can feel your pain,
and I consider your hfe as
important as mine, and I will
take care of you and comfort
you.’

“But he could not say what
he wanted, and stick by it:
that was a different matter.”

Bly makes it clear he isn't
talking about the old macho,
brute-strength kind of
masculine energy. As I read
him, he’s talking more about
the energy that made us
explorers and adventurers
and mystics and prophets.

It is painfully clear that
there are a lot of men
walking around, being
pleasant and tender, when,
in fact, they want to shout
and wave their fists. And
when, maybe, they should.

Given the state of events
on Planet Earth, we should
all be taking = forceful,
decisive action of some kind.
Get desperate. Get angry.
Panic a bit.

Instead, 1( seems, we're all
so damned beautiful.

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Bly said:

“Just as women in the "70s
needed to develop the ability
to really say what they want,
to dance with skulls around
their neck, to cut
relationships when they
needed to — what males
need now is an energy that
can face this energy in
women, and meet it.”

I think what the poet is
saying is that in the 80s, men
are going to start going a bit
nuts again. We're going to
re-establish contact with the
wild and crazy guy inside.

No more Mr. Nice!

Isn't that right, dear?

strictly personal Overgrowth cited as

W. Van traffic hazard

BOULEVARD overgrowth
reducing visibility and in-
creasing traffic hazards at
interesctions has Mayor
Derrick Humphreys of West
Vancouver worried.

At) very many = in-

tersections the overgrowth
on the boulevard § area
prevents observation of
traffic approaching from
other directions, Humphreys
said in an interview last
week.
“While very many residents
care and tend for their
boulevards in a manner that
befits both their property
and the municipality, there
are a considerable number
of boulevard areas at in-
tersections that require
attention,” he noted.

Untended boulevards
decrease both the value of a

property and also. the
pleasure and enjoyment of
living on the property, the
mayor said.

The municipality has a
competition in operation
now asking for nominations
for residents who have done
the best job of “improving”
their boulevard area this

spring and summer.
Residents are invited to
Nominate suitable can-

didates for municipal
recognition preferably by a
photograph.

Additionally, citizens are
asked to report intersections
where the visibility has been
reduced by reason of

overgrown vegetation on the
intersection corners.

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