September 23 the music world lost a friend. As lyricist for the Grateful Dead and occasional collaborator with Bob Dylan, Robert Hunter witnessed much and was no doubt grateful himself for this platform from which his creative energy could shine.
It was my intention to write a memoriam that day, but other things crowded out that aim. This is a belated tribute, re-sharing some lines I wrote about Hunter’s translations of some of the writings of Rainer Maria Rilke.
It’s often been remarked how the Internet is like a giant labyrinth, with each explorer ending up in different places based on choices one makes, following links, or as Robert Frost in his poem “The Road Not Taken” suggests, “way leads on to way” so that we sometimes know not how we arrived in these various places and spaces within this seemingly infinite hypercard deck.
