Michael Swigart 1945-2008
Image by Michael R. Swigart
Our beloved friend Michael Swigart passed away on July 30, 2008.
Michael Swigart: An Appreciation
XII – The River is moving. The blackbird must be flying. (Wallace Stevens)
I met Michael nearly four years ago when a developer wanted to squeeze 250 houses into my rural neighborhood. I knew nothing about city planning, I’d never used the words “general” and “plan” in the same sentence. I showed up at City Hall angry and afraid that the bucolic, desert retirement I’d envisioned was going to be lost in a sea of tract houses. I expected to come up against an uncomprehending bureaucrat, but instead, there was Michael Swigart. He understood this place and saw a bigger picture, one that was not the obvious “pave it over.” Michael gave me the tools and the knowledge to fight for the integrity of this rare and fragile desert environment, which I continue to do. First Michael was my mentor, than he became my friend.
When Michael told me that he was going to retire, I knew that while it would be a big loss for the city, he had health issues and wanted to spend the next part of his life writing, traveling and taking photographs. Which is what he did, with complete dedication and gusto. Michael’s edited online photo site contains nearly eight thousand photographs, taken in the last two years. He took six or seven, two and three month long journeys. When he traveled, he didn’t do any luxurious 5 star retiree trips — he did hard travel to places that were sacred to him, most off the beaten path.
I watched my friend – an already enlightened and remarkably conscious being — become nearly beatific in his love of life and acceptance of the world around him. He’d told me that his aim in retiring was to “slow time down.” A year in, I’d asked him if he’d been successful at that and he told me he had. I hope with all my heart that Michael managed to turn these last 2 years into the 20 he really wanted and deserved.
Michael’s poetry was published and his photos were exhibited, he was tickled that people responded so strongly and positively to his work, which by any standards was good. He drank it all in, deeply and with appreciation and gratitude.
He was acutely interested in the world around him. He could recite huge chunks of Homer, Ezra Pound and Wallace Stevens from memory, but he could also talk about how hard he’d laughed while watching the film Napoleon Dynamite. Michael was an old school man’s man – the kind they, unfortunately, don’t make anymore. He was an adventurer, thinker, philosopher, gentleman, poet & photographer. He was unflaggingly optimistic, I never heard him say anything bad about anyone – even those who deserved it. He had a wicked sense of humor and a wonderfully deep voice. He was always the most alive person in the room, but in a quiet and meaningful way — it seems absolutely impossible that he is gone.
Charles Bukowski wrote of life, “It’s the way you walk through the fire.” My friend Michael walked through the fire with dignity, calm, courage and graciousness, always. I am grateful and richer for having known him.
Nicole Panter
August 16, 2008
In lieu of flowers at his memorial, Michael requested that donations be made to the Twentynine Palms City "Art in Public Places" program c/o City of Twentynine Palms, City Hall.
Michael uploaded more than 7700 photos onto this site during the last two years. He had a wonderful show of his work up at the Twentynine Palms City Hall in June and he sold a number of pieces. He asked me to maintain the site for him, which I am honored to do. — Nicole Panter (nicolep7@aol.com)
This photo was taken by Michael on September 21, 2006 and can be found in two of Michael’s photo sets:
1. Meteor Crater (where it commemorates astronomer Dr. Eugene Shoemaker-Levy).
2. On June 24 about a week before he was taken ill, Michael placed this photo in the set labeled "Michael". With the exception of this photo, it is an album of images of Michael from early childhood til the present.
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