Mark Rylance has written a lovely tribute to American poet Robert Bly in advance of the film on Bly coming out tomorrow. As another man who was involved with Wild Dance in the early 1990s and met Bly and his peers Michael Meade and James Hillman they had an enormous impact on my life too. I was surprised at the time at the number of intelligent liberal men and women who thought it hilarious and all about hugging trees. Out of it came a new form masculinity that was not brittle but emotional and stronger.
Here’s Mark’s piece:
Mark Rylance: how Robert Bly changed my life
Ahead of a new film about Robert Bly, Mark Rylance recalls how the poet helped him to live with loss
paullashmar.com 
Mark Rylance
I was raised in Milwaukee up to 1978, when I was 18. My father was an English teacher, so I must have come upon the American poet Robert Bly through him. But the first time I remember meeting him was after a performance of Hamlet in 1989.
I felt a sense of excitement, and a certain nervousness. He had this penetrating ability to see what was going on, and he didn’t have any shyness about saying it. Robert was there the first time I went to a men’s gathering, organised under the auspices of wild dance. There were 90 men gathered, and it was remarkable. I think I got a bit relaxed back in a cabin after a session, and I called him Bob. I can’t imagine why. I remember him turning to me and saying, “You’re going to have to call me Robert.”
to read the whole article click here
There is a premiere of Robert Bly: A Thousand Years of Joy at Gate Cinema, London W11, on 7 August. Also sceening at The Barn Cinema, Dartington, on 10 August. robertblyfilm.com