A Flare for the Absurd

Jeany Veslemoigne

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…Tom Robbins once said, “It’s never too late to have a happy childhood.” I have always loved that line — it’s been important for me to keep it close at hand because so much of the work I have done, and written about, and offered at Omega Institute is about healing from childhood wounds and traumas. Serious work. Important work.

And also — work that can benefit at times from a cosmic perspective and a sense of humor. Tom Robbins books careened around the cosmos and met suffering with playful compassion and a flare for the absurd. He showed us a way to reclaim a happy childhood, even if we never had one…

Over the years, I read every Tom Robbins book the minute it was published. Just listing the titles here fills me with the same candy-colored elixir of folly and freedom that his books always delivered — Even Cowgirls Get the Blues, Still Life with Woodpecker, Skinny Legs and All, Jitterbug Perfume, Half Asleep in Frog Pajamas, Tibetan Peach Pie. That’s just a few of them. Trying to explain the plot of any of these books betrays their nuance, meaning, and especially the shimmering perfection of each sentence. A similar breeze blew through all of the books — it was the wind of the times, full of whimsy and hope, eros and disruptive energy…

Every book that Tom Robbins wrote is a porchlight he left behind — a warm and glowy light…