>John Wieners died last night of a cerebral aneurism. He was one of our best
>poets.
>
>Mark
John was a very good friend of mine. Used to see him late at night
at the Grolier Bookshop in Cambridge. I'd let him in and he'd take
his time perusing the books. After he visited during the day, Gordon
would lament and say, "Poor John. So difficult for him."
John had a terrific imagination and indefatigable sense of humour, if
you liked his sort of humour. Wacky but very hip and droll. Given
the disasters he witnessed and the lightning bolts that he simply
ignored and the impossibility of going on in the Beckettian sense
each morning and then doing so -- with elan, with courage!
I always liked his use of the word, "Dank." As in the dank rooms
where poets forged their visions.
Alan Davies typeset [mid 70s] John's great rambling book which japed
and leapt about the State Capital of Massachucetts, Boston, by way of
Hollywood. Alan once remarked that John never forgot a kindness, he
would always send a thank-you note.
The last time I saw John was in Boston at the Alternative Poetry
Conference in, what? 1999? Some good guys were working with him,
their names slip me now, but they deserve to be remembered, for
reaching out, as fellow poets in the real draft.
You want to be a poet? Imagine yourself in his moccasins. Xrist.
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