Monday, November 07, 2016

Remembering Poet John C. Rezmerski (1942-2016)

It's with great sadness that I note that fellow poet John C. Rezmerski has passed away this week in Minnesota.


He was an accomplished writer and poet who taught for 35 years at Gustavus Adolphus College. He had received the Rhysling Award, the Devins Award for poetry, and had been a Poet Laureate of the League of Minnesota Poets. He was the author of over 20 books including The Frederick Manfred Reader, Counting Sheep; What Do I Know? New and Selected Poems; and Breaking the Rules: Starting with Ghazals. He was the editor of numerous anthologies, and a member of the Lady Poetesses from Hell collective in Minnesota.


I interviewed him five years ago for the Twin Cities Daily Planet when we were doing our Poet to Poet series. During a recent switch, some of the formatting got thrown off, but you can see it here. You can visit his website at: http://john.rezmerski.com/ to get a sense of the scope of his life and literary career.

 On a personal note, I will say that John was among the first to welcome me to the Minnesota poets community when I first moved to the state, and he and the Lady Poetesses from Hell played a significant part in my understanding of what is possible within speculative poetry.


I particularly enjoyed his book, What Do I Know? and I have written poems where he has appeared or been a strong influence on the text, including the closing poem to my collection BARROW, "How To Build A Boat."

 I shall miss him so.

His voice and vision will be deeply missed, and I am personally grateful for all that he shared with this world in the time we had.

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