R.I.P. Mark Strand

[bruto]

A sad passing I had missed until Resume noted it in the "Favorite Poems" thread, but worthy of note by all who value good poetry, Mark Strand died a few days ago.

http://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/mark-strand-last-waltz

"..Now I lie in the box
of my own making while the weather
builds and the mourners shake their heads as if
to write or to die, I did not have to do either."

 

[Resume]

A huge influence and inspiration to many

R.I.P.

 

[Minoosh]

We all have reasons for moving
I move to keep things whole

I was a creative writing major in the '70s and had an anthology put together by this poet. Except for thinking the first line said "to move," I remembered this tiny slice of language intact for 35 years.

This is a big poetry town, or was. I didn't really understand modern poetry then but little by little it started making sense.