Marathon Men

Yesterday, I received a message from a long-time friend, Richard Harteis, who announced that the film, "Marathon," based on his memoir "Marathon: A Story of Endurance and Friendship," will be featured at the Palm Beach International Film Festival, running from 22-26 April 2010 at locations around Palm Beach County, Florida.

Thinking of Richard inevitably brings to mind a flood of memories dating back nearly 30 years.  Foremost among them are memories of his long-time companion and all-round lovely human being, Pulitzer-Prize-winning poet William Meredith, who was Richard's great love and soul mate and who died in 2007.  "Marathon" is in part a story of how, after William suffered a stroke at age 64, leaving him partly incapacitated for the last 24 years of his life, Richard served as his companion and caregiver.   In a recent newspaper interview, Richard explains that the film and the book comprise a "broad story," touching upon several key issues: the challenges of aging, of taking care of an older loved one and "of being gay in America."   The film has been well-received at other festivals and I wish Richard well with this one.

I first met Richard and William both in August 1980 in Rabat, Morocco, of all places.  At the time, William was there to visit Richard, who was working in Morocco as a physician assistant with a large US corporation there.   The local English-speaking community group had asked William to read some of his poetry at a poetry evening.

At the time, I was a single mom who had recently relocated to Morocco to work with a bilateral development project.  Healer Sis had accompanied my two teen-age sons - who were not at all happy about being relocated just then - to Morocco and was staying on for a while to experience the culture and help all of us to adjust.  Thank heavens for that!  Relocating adolescents in the best of circumstances is no simple task; relocating them to a whole new and very different culture where they do not speak the language(s) ratchets up the challenge enormously.   But that is a different story altogether.

Both Healer Sis and I attended the poetry evening.  We found ourselves seated near the front, perhaps even in the front row, if memory serves me well.  We enjoyed the readings very much.  William's poetry is wonderful and William was an outstanding reader.  Before he finished, however, William told us all that he wanted to read one of Richard's poems and then proceeded to do so.  He read "The Hermit," a moving poem about a holy man living on a barren hilltop that was a place sacred for barren women to make a pilgrimage in the hopes that by doing so they would bear children.  Unfortunately, the site was also favored for technological development (radar placement) and the hermit and the barren women lost out.   The combination of this bleak but lovely poem-story together with various recent upheavals in my and Healer Sis's lives caused us both literally to burst into tears.  We both finally managed to dry our tears and compose ourselves, but that experience really marked the moment for us.

After Healer Sis and William both returned to the US, I got to know Richard through a mutual friend.  As Richard remembers it, he later introduced me to HWMBO.  I remember being introduced to HWMBO differently, by another mutual friend.  But it is true that Richard helped to advance and encourage our budding romance and can thus take part of the credit ... or the blame.

Several years later, in the 90s, Richard and William both visited us in Switzerland.  They were then a couple.  Richard set aside his careers (as physician assistant and poet) to act as William's caregiver after William's 1988 stroke.   In large part due to Richard's care and management, William had recovered significantly, could speak and move about, primarily with the help of his collapsible wheelchair as he tired easily.  With Richard's help and encouragement, William was even travelling to literary events to read poetry throughout Europe.  These tours were generally sponsored by the US cultural services.  Richard and William had, in fact, just been in Avignon for a festival there before coming here.  While they were here, a close friend invited us to a party and Richard and William kindly read for all present.  Later the same friend accompanied us on a tour of Nyon via le petit train.  The short stay finished up with a hearty Swiss fondue and then they left for Paris.

My fondest memories of that visit are of my one-on-one moments with William.  At the time, the Sturm und Drang of my workplace was taking a very heavy toll.  Speaking with this quick-witted but delightful, gentle and caring individual was like having warm, sweet and soothing spiritual balm poured over all my mental aches and pains.  The visit refreshed me so much that I was able to continue with my own marathon.