Yesterday the news came that we had lost Susan Elbe, one of the best poets I have known, a good friend, and a kind, loving, and deeply concerned person. Dave Bonta and I first met her through qarrtsiluni, published a number of her poems, and worked with her as a guest editor of the "Health" issue; that mutually-supportive relationship has continued through the years. I was looking forward to publishing a book of hers one of these days, and am very sorry that this won't happen.
I wanted to share a link to Susan reading one of her poems at qarrtsiluni, from November 2011, titled "Between Us and the Slow Fall." The kind of person she was comes across clearly through both her voice and her words. We shared September birthdays, political views, and a genuine friendship though we had never met in person. I will miss her.
Just back in the states (after 12-hour nap!) and came by to see how you are. I am sorry to hear about Susan Elbe; you made so very many friends-in-the-arts through qarrtsiluni that I am sure you have more to lose than most people, and that is hard. Sympathy to you. I shall read some of her poems in response.
I liked your last post on persistence. I've always been a bit of a mystery to myself in the realm of words--finding work in dreams or waking up with something in my head, moving by instinct and joy, having characters walk into my head fully formed, and often being quite fast, a thing that I did not realize was unusual for many years. It took me a long time to grasp that not everybody works the same way, and that the way a person works doesn't matter. Nothing about how ideas come or are shaped matters--or if it does, we can't know, not really--to the final made thing.
How some people come to persistence while others don't is a kind of mystery, too. I see it in the young people I know; mostly I see talent that lacks discipline. Will they find it? Or will they become something other than what they might have been, if they had found their shaping discipline and desire?
And happy birthday. I'm not sure if it was while I was away or is yet to come. Either way, happy September-baby wishes to you!
Posted by: Marly Youmans | September 30, 2017 at 10:46 PM
I'd never heard of Susan Elbe before. I went to the link to read her poem. It was just lovely.
Posted by: mary | October 01, 2017 at 08:25 PM