James Liddy was an Irish born (Dublin if I remember correctly) poet whose early work had a great impact on me. He moved to "the states" in the '60s, I believe, and remained here, teaching and writing.
An early book, A MUNSTER SONG OF LOVE AND WAR (1971, a beautifully designed chapbook from the San Francisco small press White Rabbit) remains one of my alltime favorite books of poetry.
Here's two from that book:
6
We saw the star of knowledge
(He was)
Coming into the mouth of the flowers
Above all the Gael as the sun
Is above the moon.
We said to ourselves "a jewel."
Thanatos.
Though it disperses the thick fog
Restoring
Our
Wish
To die.
7
He'd be alive today if he wasn't pretty
He was gorgeous.
His beauty overcame his enemies and the
enemies of Ireland
and it was jealousy
of his prettiness
that has laid him
On the floor with his head open.
There are not enough mirrors in the bath
Rooms of Munster to shout how nice looking
he was and awkard
with a gun.
Liddy and I nevet met, but we corresponded back in the day and spoke on the phone once. It was during my first trip to Europe when I visited England but was unable to make it to Ireland because I ran out of money. He was very upset that I had forsaken the mother country to see the land of the oppressor! And, as it turned out, so was I.
He'll be missed, by generations of students and readers and friends, among which I counted myself, and in all three categories.
[PS Ala Ed Baker's comment on Liddy made on the previous post, he's right that Liddy's autobiography, THE DOCTOR'S HOUSE, is wonderful as well, and a tip of the hat to Ray DiPalma who pointed out to me that I originally had written the title wrong, replacing WAR with DEATH, even though I had the book right beside me on my desk at the time, ah well]
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I had Liddy as a teacher at UWM a few years ago when he was teaching the Beat Literature course in the English Dept. He was a fascinating lecturer and great man. Every class period he would bring in newspaper clippings about Beat writers as well as recount his own experiences. I remember he would meet with students at the university's "bar" for drinks in the union. I arrived late to one of these at the end of the semester. Though he showed some annoyance with my arrival, he still bought me a pint of Guiness. He will truly be missed but will always live on through faculty, students, readers and his own inspiring works. One of the best courses I ever took, truly inspirational, unforgettable. Thank you for posting this Michael.
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