Hanging Horn

I’ve been reading Annie Dillard’s For The Time Being and am just captivated by it. While some of the book reviews I’ve scanned criticize her for it’s disjointedness I can’t say that that’s bothered me. Her confluent examination of clouds, China, Teilhard de Chardin, birth defects, and Hasidism is sad, but also beautiful. The most interesting thing to me is that she uses these seemingly divergent subject matter as the basis for exploring the concepts of God, evil, suffering, and indifference; framing them and objectifying them in such a way that (perhaps cynically) human lives seem acceptably insignificant and at the same time miraculous.

Later in the week (once I’ve finished the book) I’ll post some of my favorite excerpts from it but what this rather convoluted association brings me to now, is Hanging Horn (a poster child for nature’s arbitrariness). In March I posted his story here. Our happiness last January when he shed his antlers was short lived because they’re growing back now and unfortunately some of his bone fragments don’t seem to be attached to the rest of his skull; leaving his new antler to dangle heavily in front of his left eye.

I suppose what he needs is a laying on of hands......... or a personal deity to answers his every prayer ...........or maybe just an antler scrunchie......I don’t know but he isn’t in any danger of being hunted for his rack, and he seems to be doing okay “for the time being”. Plus he’s beautiful......in an Annie Dillard sort of way.