Walking through a wall

I wonder if anyone else read about Mark Rylance's acceptance 'speech' for his Tony Award yesterday? Instead of coming out with the usual sort of cloying mush, he recited a poem by the Minnesotan Louis Jenkins, of whom I had not heard before. I was so entranced by this that it has remained with me all day.

Rylance won the award for his leading part in the play Jerusalem which has been a sell-out on Broadway. I saw it in London last year. His character, Rooster Byron, is an kind of disenfranchised Lord of Misrule who leads an anarchic existence on the periphery of society, attracting to him other marginal misfits, and evading efforts to ensnare him into the bureaucratic net. It's also a celebration of rural nonconformity and English eccentricity, living off the land and doing your own thing - bugger the consequences.

So here's a wall, of a ruined hillside farm, and here's the poem:

Unlike flying or astral projection, walking through walls is a totally earth-related craft, but a lot more interesting than pot making or driftwood lamps. I got started at a picnic up in Bowstring in the northern part of the state. A fellow walked through a brick wall right there in the park. I said, "Say, I want to try that." Stone walls are best, then brick and wood. Wooden walls with fiberglass insulation and steel doors aren't so good. They won't hurt you. If your wall walking is done properly, both you and the wall are left intact. It is just that they aren't pleasant somehow. The worst things are wire fences, maybe it's the molecular structure of the alloy or just the amount of give in a fence, I don't know, but I've torn my jacket and lost my hat in a lot of fences. The best approach to a wall is, first, two hands placed flat against the surface; it's a matter of concentration and just the right pressure. You will feel the dry, cool inner wall with your fingers, then there is a moment of total darkness before you step through on the other side.

You can see Mark Rylance reciting it here. (Select category Acceptance Speeches, then scroll down on the right.)