News just came via the National Poetry Foundation's post on Facebook that poet Ted Enlsin has died.
http://poetryproject.org/project-blog/ted-enslin-1925-2011.html
It was right around this time four years ago that the man who introduced Ted Enslin to me, and my fellow ENG 308: Writing Poetry classmates at UMaine, also died, Sylvester Pollet. Sylvester was friends with Ted Enslin, who agreed to come visit and teach a few classes that semester, back in Spring 1999.
I was a "baby" in the world of poetry at the time. It was my second creative writing class ever. I had no idea how special my experiences were at UMaine. I didn't realize that not every poetry student had poets like Ted Enslin guest teach their undergraduate writing class. Still, I was able to appreciate it very much, simply as a someone new to the idea of calling herself a poet, even if I didn't realize how fortunate I was.
What I remember from the reading he gave during that visit, because it was a funny thing to say, was that he didn't believe in saying "one" or "two", etc. if a poem were in sections. "So I'll just pause," was what he said.
No one ever likes the name of the group they're lumped in, it seems, but I will go ahead and finish up by saying now that I have come to understand and love the entire spectrum of the work that came out of the "Objectivist" movement, my young encounters with Enslin have become even more meaningful. I am sad to hear of his passing.
Later on, when I have access to them, I will post some poems from "From Near the Great Pine", published in 1989 by Spoon River Poetry Press. I picked up a copy at Gulf of Maine books in Brunswick a while ago. It is a good book.
http://poetryproject.org/project-blog/ted-enslin-1925-2011.html
It was right around this time four years ago that the man who introduced Ted Enslin to me, and my fellow ENG 308: Writing Poetry classmates at UMaine, also died, Sylvester Pollet. Sylvester was friends with Ted Enslin, who agreed to come visit and teach a few classes that semester, back in Spring 1999.
I was a "baby" in the world of poetry at the time. It was my second creative writing class ever. I had no idea how special my experiences were at UMaine. I didn't realize that not every poetry student had poets like Ted Enslin guest teach their undergraduate writing class. Still, I was able to appreciate it very much, simply as a someone new to the idea of calling herself a poet, even if I didn't realize how fortunate I was.
What I remember from the reading he gave during that visit, because it was a funny thing to say, was that he didn't believe in saying "one" or "two", etc. if a poem were in sections. "So I'll just pause," was what he said.
No one ever likes the name of the group they're lumped in, it seems, but I will go ahead and finish up by saying now that I have come to understand and love the entire spectrum of the work that came out of the "Objectivist" movement, my young encounters with Enslin have become even more meaningful. I am sad to hear of his passing.
Later on, when I have access to them, I will post some poems from "From Near the Great Pine", published in 1989 by Spoon River Poetry Press. I picked up a copy at Gulf of Maine books in Brunswick a while ago. It is a good book.