of each dead poet
as if it were yours.
It is.
Philip Dacey
From Mosquito Operas, 2010
The sad news came today that a poet and good friend to Stoneboat, Philip Dacey, has died after struggling with leukemia for quite a while. I only met Philip in person on one occasion, and that was at the Great Lakes Writers Festival at Lakeland College back in 2007. At the time, I had not tried to write a poem for many years. I was on major hiatus as far as poetry was concerned. But meeting Philip and hearing his work, I was impressed by his poems and by his welcoming nature. He was not snobbish about poetry. He did not make it seem like an enterprise for only some special sect of people. He helped me see that poetry is there for anyone who wants to partake of it. He was a true mentor in that regard.
