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Robin Blaser, 1925-2009

The Globe and Mail is reporting that poet Robin Blaser has died.

Born in Denver, Colorado, Blaser was a key figure in the burgeoning Berkeley literary scene of the 1950s and ’60s, before settling in Vancouver in 1966. The author of more than a dozen collections of poetry, including Harp Trees (1977) and Pell Mell (1988), Blaser was honoured with the inaugural Griffin Trust for Excellence in Poetry Lifetime Recognition Award in 2006. Last year, he won the Griffin Prize for The Holy Forest: Collected Poems of Robin Blaser (University of California Press).

In his Griffin acceptance speech, Blaser spoke of his continued commitment to poetry: “At 83 years of age, I can say that poetry remains primary in my life. Poetry is the deepest language we’ve got to keep a record of our lives. I encourage all of you to get busy and write poetry.” (For pictures of the event, see here.)

The U.S. poet Charles Bernstein has posted a tribute to Blaser on his personal blog, and the Globe website quotes Montreal poet Erin Mouré on Blaser’s legacy:

“Robin’s death leaves an irrevocable hole in our poetic lives. A man of grace and with a deep philosophical and social conscience and relationship with language, he leaves shoes that can’t be filled. We can only continue dedicating ourselves to poetry, and to try to bring grace and strength to all that we do in poetry, to honour him . . . And his laugh! Truth is laughter, he said. So laugh we must (even though he always laughed first, as he got the joke quicker than anyone) . . .”