Comments on: Child poet, old soul wisdom

Child poet, old soul wisdom

moonbird — Wed, 23 Jun 2004 22:01:34 -0800

Remembering the amazingly mature poetry of Mattie Stepanek: national goodwill ambassador with muscular dystrophy, and 13 year old prodigal wordsmith.

By: Guy Smiley

Guy Smiley — Wed, 23 Jun 2004 22:51:09 -0800

I've been vaguely aware of this kid, mostly due to glimpsing him on Larry King as I flipped by. (Usually I think, hey is that the kid from Jerry Maguire?) To the extent I've thought of him, it's been to consider his poetry oh-so-very Parade Magazine/Readers' Digest schmaltz. And now, of course, after his death I've actually read some of the stuff. Sure, some of it is obviously childish (truly, in the most non-perjorative sense of the term). But then I'll come across some of his poems (see moonbird's links), and... When I was thirteen, my greatest achievement was spending most of my time masturbating and playing Atari. Even now...well, I have a PlayStation 2 now. Mattie Stepanek had a form of musclar dystrophy that not only would kill him, it had already killed three of his siblings. That he did anything besides despair and lay down and die is amazing. That he wrote poetry of this caliber at such a young age is, frankly, amazing, and it gives me a little hope for the potential of this species.

By: methylsalicylate

methylsalicylate — Thu, 24 Jun 2004 04:05:58 -0800

Prodigious, surely. 'Prodigal' means wasteful.

By: britain

britain — Thu, 24 Jun 2004 05:30:24 -0800

There's an Onion article about him [not specifically about him, but for all intents and purposes, referring to him], but it's in the Premium section. Do a search for "poetry" over there, can't miss it. I mean, you can afford to miss it, especially if you liked Mattie Stepanek, but it's clearly visible in the results.

By: thebabelfish

thebabelfish — Thu, 24 Jun 2004 07:00:17 -0800

"Heartsong" reminded me of a wonderful short book called "The Soul Bird" (which my friend acquired from a used book store... I can't find it on Amazon).

By: u.n. owen

u.n. owen — Thu, 24 Jun 2004 08:47:17 -0800

Oh god. I feel bad for the kid, but did no one see the appearances he had where his mother guided his answers to every question? He must have had the worst stage mother of all time - particularly because she wasn't capitalizing on his talent, but on his illness. I wouldn't be shocked to discover she'd written that tripe that passed for poetry, either. It's a great marketing gimmick for the mom - she makes a boatload of money on her kid's pain and suffering, which of course he'll never collect on because she knew he'd die at an early age. Seeing this kid gave me the creeps - not the kid himself, who struck me as fairly nice and such, but not any great shakes one way or the other. But his mother and the body language between them was shocking and reminiscent of interactions between children and abusive parents. It felt like I was seeing a child not being creative, but being used. I'm sorry he's dead. He seemed like a nice kid. But his poetry was godawful - yes, even for his age. Believe it or not, kids of age 10 or 12 are capable of writing really, truly well. By calling this stuff "amazing" for his age, you're disparaging some really talented adolescents.

By: raygun21

raygun21 — Thu, 24 Jun 2004 11:33:16 -0800

So all it takes these days to be a gifted artist is a terminal disease? Argh, when will people stop assigning hero status to anyone who's terminally ill? And yeah, if it wasn't for the mom no one would probably care about him anyway. Who doesn't have Imminent Death Syndrome?

By: moonbird

moonbird — Thu, 24 Jun 2004 11:40:19 -0800

Prodigious, surely. 'Prodigal' means wasteful. Good call without the gravepiss. Thanks!