Sad News...
Sadly, this is the end to many poets these days and through history....
From the NY Daily News:
Poet & prof Liam Rector, 58, kills self
A famous American poet and college writing instructor killed himself with a shotgun blast yesterday in his Manhattan apartment, police said.
Liam Rector's wife found his body in a chair in their W. 12th St. flat in Greenwich Village about 8 a.m., police said.
Rector, 58, had written and edited numerous books of poetry and taught at universities throughout the country - including Columbia and The New School in New York.
At the time of his death, Rector was serving as the director of the writing seminars program at Vermont's Bennington College, a program he had founded.
His friend and the country's 14th poet laureate, Donald Hall - whose term ended on Aug. 2 - said Rector's loss will be felt by many, especially his students.
"He had many friends and many people who admired him," said Hall, 78.
"He ran the program at Bennington College, and he's affected thousands of people that way."
Rector's wife, Tree Swenson, was weeping uncontrollably outside the building - called the Mark Twain - after finding her husband's body, neighbors said.
* * *
Liam Rector on The Academy of American Poets
Age Moves
by Liam Rector
Age moves in the hound
As it was in me moving
Through forest I found
As to dog I went
That year scrounging
Through Manhattan....
The wood opened out,
Unlikely in the city,
As to boy slandering
To leave his fitful home,
Bright he might survive
With his pen-knife only.
From the NY Daily News:
Poet & prof Liam Rector, 58, kills self
A famous American poet and college writing instructor killed himself with a shotgun blast yesterday in his Manhattan apartment, police said.
Liam Rector's wife found his body in a chair in their W. 12th St. flat in Greenwich Village about 8 a.m., police said.
Rector, 58, had written and edited numerous books of poetry and taught at universities throughout the country - including Columbia and The New School in New York.
At the time of his death, Rector was serving as the director of the writing seminars program at Vermont's Bennington College, a program he had founded.
His friend and the country's 14th poet laureate, Donald Hall - whose term ended on Aug. 2 - said Rector's loss will be felt by many, especially his students.
"He had many friends and many people who admired him," said Hall, 78.
"He ran the program at Bennington College, and he's affected thousands of people that way."
Rector's wife, Tree Swenson, was weeping uncontrollably outside the building - called the Mark Twain - after finding her husband's body, neighbors said.
* * *
Liam Rector on The Academy of American Poets
Age Moves
by Liam Rector
Age moves in the hound
As it was in me moving
Through forest I found
As to dog I went
That year scrounging
Through Manhattan....
The wood opened out,
Unlikely in the city,
As to boy slandering
To leave his fitful home,
Bright he might survive
With his pen-knife only.
Such sad news. When a poet leaves us, the world is that much smaller.
ReplyDeleteOh this is so terribly sad.
ReplyDeleteI met Tree Swenson, briefly, many years ago. I have friends who have known her long and well. I can't begin, or could only begin, to imagine the terrible loss and sorrow she's facing.
Thank you for posting this.
I'm saddened by this news too. Strange to think of it in terms of his poem posted above and the Billy Collins poem posted below.
ReplyDelete