Cid Corman: Five Years Gone

Cid Corman, Ed Baker, Ted Enslin, Chuck Sandy

Ed Baker calls our attention to the fact that last week was the 5th anniversary of the death of Cid Corman. It is hard to believe that it has been so long since this gentle soul, master poet and translator, and mentor has been gone.

Cid was incredibly generous with his work, from the largest to the smallest places, the last of which I can formally attest to. He published two broadsides, "You Don't Say" and "Only," and two chapbooks, No Choice and Now/Now, here at Lilliput Review. Now/Now, I believe, was the last collection to appear while he was still alive; he proofed it in late December 2003 and it was published in January 2004, at which time he had all ready been stricken ill.

Shizumi, Cid, Anne Waldman


The above pictures are courtesy of Ed, who recalls Cid's straight-to-the-point way and salient advice about poems and life. He had time for all who approached him. He lived and breathed poetry and his life of near poverty attests to the low esteem in which we hold our poets, even our great ones. Ed put it succinctly when he observed that Cid's loss leaves a whole in "meaning - a silence."

A silence.

You are missed, Cid.


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Sunday also marked the anniversaries of the deaths of two other literary luminaries, H. P. Lovecraft and Lady Gregory. Lovecraft is one of my many cultivated vices; when it comes to pulp fiction, he, along with Robert E. Howard, is a master par excellence.

Lady Gregory was a major figure of the Irish Literary Renaissance, though her works have largely fallen into obscurity for all but Irish literature aficionados. Lady Gregory helped revive older works of Celtic literature that, in their turn, had also slipped away at the dawn of the 20th century. One such work, the poem/ballad Donal Og, was revived in John Huston's last film, The Dead, which was based on the final story in James Joyce's short story collection, The Dubliners. I featured a video of the recitation of the poem in a previous post. I believe it's good enough for a reprisal, so here it is:






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Finally, today is the anniversary of the passing of one the great blues guitar men, T. Bone Walker. If we gotta go, let's go dancing. Enjoy.

best,
Don

PS New poem of the day is up on Twitter ...