Legacy Corner—Rhonda Pettit

The 2010 September issue of the Journal of Kentucky Studies through Northern Kentucky University published a memorial section on James Baker Hall with Rhonda serving as the editor of the section. The piece was created to demonstrate and celebrate a life dedicated to art in all forms. Critical and personal essays as well as poems honoring his memory were highlighted from authors Wendell Berry, W. S. Merwin, Frank X Walker, Frederick Smock, Mary Ann Taylor-Hall and Gray Zeitz. Dr. Pettit notes in the memorial: “To this day when I need to have a serious conversation about a poem I am reading, writing or teaching, I have it first, in my mind, with Jim Hall.”

“Jim, along with some other books I was reading, helped me to understand how my father's death when I was 16—that loss—was the core of what I had to write about,” states Rhonda. “And the core of who I was, that loss was a life-defining moment for me but I couldn't realize it at the time; I was busy surviving it, getting it behind me. Jim the poet, and poetry itself at that time, helped me understand this. And THAT was another life-defining moment for me.”

Valuable lessons about writing and life were abound with Jim. Rhonda said several things he taught her come to mind. The first was “to protect your writing time”. “There is always going to be something to pull you away,” Rhonda said Jim would tell his students. “So once again, there is the commitment which was so strong in Jim.” Secondly, Jim's insistence on clarity. Commitment, Intensity, Clarity! Don't lie to the reader, but first and foremost, don't lie to yourself. If you do, all you can do is lie to the reader.

When asked what would you say to Jim today if you could, Rhonda responded, "I would say, Thanks for the love, Jim—for the deep, humane love you offered us through your creative work, your clarity, your courage, and your great expectations. I keep trying to meet them."