HENRY FONDA'S EYES
Did you know Henry Fonda donated his eyes
to the Manhattan Eye Clinic when he died
back in 1982?
Yep, he did.
The eye tissue was probably used for research.
But...
Maybe they were transplanted into
someone else.
Let's say, someone else received them
who was 43 at the time
and could be right now walking around with Henry Fonda's eyes.
Eyes that saw things like:
The endless Great Plains
A lynching (real, but staged)
His father's anger
His mother's pride
Dark Broadway audiences
Jimmy Stewart's roomie habits
Peter Fonda & Jane Fonda's births
John Ford's fist coming out of nowhere
His reflection in the camera lens
Another lynching (staged, but real)
Psychiatric hospitals
Lights & awards & red carpets
The eyes & the lips of one Barbara Stanwyck
His wife's suicide
His son's attempted suicide
Getting high with his son
Presidents & dignitaries & European debutantes & cowboys & Indians & slaves & California
migrants & Midwestern farmer's daughters & Oscar Hammerstein's step-daughter & wives &
wives & more wives
Ghosts & ropes & smoking guns
77 years of suffering and wonder
The endless Great Plains once again
And now they're seeing new
plains
& ghosts
& suffering
& wonder
That is, until this year
when that recipient will be 77,
and maybe they'll donate
Henry Fonda's eyes
to you or someone else,
keeping the circle going
like the loop in a noose.
to the Manhattan Eye Clinic when he died
back in 1982?
Yep, he did.
The eye tissue was probably used for research.
But...
Maybe they were transplanted into
someone else.
Let's say, someone else received them
who was 43 at the time
and could be right now walking around with Henry Fonda's eyes.
Eyes that saw things like:
The endless Great Plains
A lynching (real, but staged)
His father's anger
His mother's pride
Dark Broadway audiences
Jimmy Stewart's roomie habits
Peter Fonda & Jane Fonda's births
John Ford's fist coming out of nowhere
His reflection in the camera lens
Another lynching (staged, but real)
Psychiatric hospitals
Lights & awards & red carpets
The eyes & the lips of one Barbara Stanwyck
His wife's suicide
His son's attempted suicide
Getting high with his son
Presidents & dignitaries & European debutantes & cowboys & Indians & slaves & California
migrants & Midwestern farmer's daughters & Oscar Hammerstein's step-daughter & wives &
wives & more wives
Ghosts & ropes & smoking guns
77 years of suffering and wonder
The endless Great Plains once again
And now they're seeing new
plains
& ghosts
& suffering
& wonder
That is, until this year
when that recipient will be 77,
and maybe they'll donate
Henry Fonda's eyes
to you or someone else,
keeping the circle going
like the loop in a noose.
CHRIS OXLEY co-founded Holler Presents with Scott McClanahan. He resides in Charleston, WV.
