brianrayfiction.com Blog

Ruth Padel, not Derek Walcott, for the position of Oxford Professor of Poetry. Sorry Derek. Guess you shouldn’t have let that student file sexual harassment accusations when you were teaching at Harvard all those years ago. (I don’t know what I mean by that.)

Guardian Story

Had the chance to meet Walcott several years ago when he visited my university. Ever since reading this story in The New Yorker about what a nice guy he is, I’ve always tried to resist all the bad stories. Nonetheless, I got to witness the Nobel baby in action first person when a friend of mine “accosted” him after a panel. She had a question about his interpretation about Eliot’s “The Wasteland.” And he had…to go. He chuckled and said, “Go fetch my coat.” She simply didn’t know what to do. She laughed along with him and kept shaking her head. ‘You’re coat?” she said and he nodded. “Yes, go get it.” Too bad he didn’t slap her on the rump for good measure. (Yes, that is sarcasm.)