Parke Godwin
Parke Godwin was an American writer known for his lyrical yet precise prose style and sardonic humor. He was also known for his novels of legendary figures placed in realistic historical settings; his retelling of the Arthur legend (Firelord in 1980, Beloved Exile in 1984, and The Last Rainbow in 1985) is set in the 5th century during the collapse of the Roman empire, and his reinterpretation of Robin Hood (Sherwood, 1991, and Robin and the King, 1993) takes place during the Norman conquest and features kings William the Conqueror and William Rufus as major characters. His other well-known works include Waiting For The Galactic Bus (1988) and its sequel The Snake Oil Wars (1989), humorous critiques of American pop culture and religion.
Parke Godwin also worked as a radio operator, a research technician, a professional actor, an advertising man, a dishwasher and a maitre d' hotel.
Godwin's short fiction has appeared in several anthologies. His short story "Influencing the Hell out of Time and Teresa Golowitz," was the basis of an episode of the television series The Twilight Zone.
“...hear the language, this English, double-jointed as Bedivere's limbs. It only sounds awkward. In its ability to join one concept to another as with pegs, its dependent clauses, figures of speech and cadenced alliteration, a man can say one thing five ways and yet imply a sixth; can change meaning with an inflection, a pause or a deliberate misuse of a word, can mock, scorn and flay an opponent without uttering one overt insult.”
“Love and hell are alike in that respect; they are what you bring to them. The script is yours; only the props are furnished.”
“Perhaps a moment comes when must is to tired to fight and want breaks free to cry I am just once before the sun goes down.”
“Where do the strong go to be weak?”
“We play very dangerous games with life and no one knows our rules.”
“Part of what we are is whom we’ve loved.”
“I know why men lose sight of the face of God: because it is so close.”
“And youth, though they see every day the cradle and grave shaped so alike, never believe death will happen to them. I told you it was a comedy.”
“The day comes when love means something beyond a reflection of ourselves, when there is more behind than ahead and the house of mind is haunted in every chamber with old songs, old ghosts, old hopes.”
“You go through it like a dark room, you sweat, you fear, the fear passes, you come out of it and utter nothing but meaningless words about what you saw or felt.”
“A while ago in real-time you saw the eagles. And you wished.”
“There’s not a stone or leaf or life that men won’t put a name to. It gives them a nice safe box to collect things in. They get in the habit of collecting things and end up surprised at the weight they’re carrying. A dream they thought might fit someday, something bright and sweet like a woman, picked up for her shine and somehow never left or at least never forgotten. Or an ambition! There’s a fine item in any man’s bag. A great, glowing ambition. They never fade, never wear even when you’ve outgrown them. Always there to look at and remember and play might-have-been.”
“...for one instant, I saw the stars close enough to touch. Closer than that, part of me. Are they really so far or just that we never reach for them?”
“Tomorrow belongs to those who can learn. For those who can’t, there’s only yesterday.”
“I’ve learned and unlearned all my life; it’s helped me to survive. There are no constants, nothing is immutable, only random circumstance from which our experience builds a coherent arc of life. And for that arc you have only to be truly done with one thing before moving to another. There’s an art in letting go.”
“Lovers have a language that can be lost--how to speak, how to touch, when to try.”
“Between blow and pain, there is that instant of numbness, an unreal moment...”
“See that day as I remember it. A day in June, River Severn rolling to the sea, diamonded with sunlight, gulls gliding over the quays on a mild breeze that lifted the Red Dragon standard over Camelot. A quiet enough day for the end of my world.”