It Tastes Right

I woke up this morning to the news of the death of Heath Ledger, the intense, charismatic Australian actor. He was found dead in New York, apparently after an accidental drug overdose, though that hasn't yet been confirmed by an autopsy.I'd just seen Ledger in the outstanding movie "Ned Kelly". He made his name, however, in "Brokeback Mountain", a film that became infamous a couple of years ago for its depiction of homosexuality among American cowboys. A Christian friend of mine liked Ledger but vowed publically not to watch the film because of its sinful subject matter. I didn't see it either; but for me that was only because I don't like love stories, whoever they involve. There's something tragic about sitting alone in your flat watching one-dimensional people find happiness in a glowing box in the corner.

Somebody I know in real life died recently too. And it made me think: I have reached the point where I no longer have any doubt that the Buddhists and the Hindus are right about reincarnation. I used to like the idea intellectually, but struggle with it on an instinctive level. When you're dead, you're dead, right? Well, no.

Somebody once asked Gary Snyder how he knew when a poem was finished. He said, "It tastes done." Reincarnation tastes right to me. Not that it's much of a comfort, given that it means you'll only have to come back and kick the bucket all over again.