Sandy Taylor Dies at 76

Posted on December 22, 2007
Filed Under Poetry, Politics |

I only met Sandy Taylor a couple of times, but have great admiration for his work at Curbstone Press. He will be missed. He’d want me to tag this post as “politics” as well as “poetry.” As a memorial, here is the first stanza of Sam Hamill’s poem “Arguing with Milosz in Vilnius,” from Hamill’s book Measured by Stone, published by Curbstone.

You are recently dead, old man,
with your thunderous brows
and voice like a vast sea
hinting at a dangerous undertow–
you are gone, your generation
of testimony, or witness,
gone, gone among the ancient rites
of passage, gone,
taking with you the innumerable
names of the lost.

Comments

3 Responses to “Sandy Taylor Dies at 76”

  1. edward mycue on December 26th, 2007 2:22 am

    he will missed. he and his wife carried this press. they we total publishers who chose, edited, marketed, distributed, went out all about the country presenting their authors. this is loss: something is gone, cannot be replaced, reproduced.
    i have been friends for over 25 years and now work with a fine poet sarah menefee whose 2 major books I’M NOT THOUSANDFURS and THE BLOOD AROUND THE HEART were published by curbstone press. so i’ve heard abt sandy and judy (his copublisher and wife). they have done a rare thing as publishers and promoters and i am touched you have honored them. edward mycue

  2. edward mycue on December 26th, 2007 2:24 am

    joseph, in the first line above, the “we” should read “were”. i am the fatfinger clown of the keyboard. (sometimes i discover something new by chance, but not here and not usually. my bad.)edward mycue

  3. Sharon on January 3rd, 2008 4:31 pm

    Sandy Taylor will be missed by many, especially me. I had the privelege to work with Sandy as a member of the Natchaug/Willimantic Neighborhood Revitalization Zone (NRZ) Steering Committee. He always added invaluable input to our meetings, and was always there to lend a helping hand in all of our projects. I will mostly miss his smiling face and sense of humor, he always made me feel so good…

    Sharon