Phil Cousineau is a Renaissance man who has been able to maintain a wonder and awe about life which has stoked his creative fires for many decades. For him, the night is a companion for creativity. He describes how civilization arose from sitting around a fire in the night, “Before the [discovery of] fire, we were probably together for very short periods and living instinctually. But when we could stretch the day into the night and sit around a fire, we extended our use of language and probably monosyllabic communication turned into conversation. And when we were able to talk deep into the night, we moved from ordinary existence into philosophizing which turns into culture and civilization.” He tantalizes us to love the night when he says, “Spirit moves fast, but the soul moves slowly. When we stretch the night out on that long journey, time, I believe, starts to slow down. Late at night is the time to put rhythm and blues or jazz music on and to read poetry. It is a time when you can savor the language.” By sharing stories and poems he takes us from the contemplative, starry night to the enlightenment of early dawn.
