Thursday, May 17, 2012

A letter from W.H. Auden to St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery

From the EV Grieve inbox... poet W.H. Auden's response to a new liturgy at St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery. Opens with "Have you gone stark raving mad?" and concludes with,"I implore you by the bowels of Christ." (Checking on the date of the letter.)

[Click to enlarge]

St. Mark's posted the letter as part of its social media outreach for the Partners in Preservation contest. The church has applied for a restoration grant for its historic cast-iron portico. In total, there are 40 New York landmarks competing. Grants will be awarded based in part on the number of online votes each organization can gather. Supporters can vote for St. Mark's at the Partners in Preservation website.

The Duo Multicultural Arts Center on East Fourth Street was the other East Village "historic place" selected to compete in the program. DMAC hopes to restore six murals and its decorative tin ceiling. Details here.
at

1 comment:

  1. AnonymousMay 17, 2012 at 5:28 PM

    That's a lovely letter. I never thought about it before but of course Auden must have gone to church at St. Marks.

    ReplyDelete

Your remarks and lively debates are welcome, whether supportive or critical of the views herein. Your articulate, well-informed remarks that are relevant to an article are welcome.

However, commentary that is intended to "flame" or attack, that contains violence, racist comments and potential libel will not be published. Facts are helpful.

If you'd like to make personal attacks and libelous claims against people and businesses, then you may do so on your own social media accounts. Also, comments predicting when a new business will close ("I give it six weeks") will not be approved.