I was very sad last week to read about the passing of one of my favorite poets, Philip Levine.
Read his New York Times obit.
The first full length poetry collection I ever read in my twenties was They Feed the Lion. Levine was also the first living poet I ever read. He was living proof to me you didn't have to be dead to be a poet. He even wrote about living, modernity and about work.
He was the second poet I saw read live, the first was Tom Lux in St. Louis. The only other writer I ever saw read in St. Louis was Stephen King.
Levine was the first poet to visit Sarah Lawrence College while I was a graduate student there. That night, as he walked through the dark entryway of Slonim house and passed me on his way to the living room and I felt like a celebrity had just walked by! Imagine that? A poet celebrity! I was starstruck. I have always mythologized him and I probably always will.
We've also lost Louis Jordan. I honored him a few weeks ago by watching Gigi again. Gigi is full of great stuff. It’s slightly Proustean in its exuberance, full of Paris location shots, Louis Jordan as fluid as a dancer, Maurice Chevalier, (who is just as charming as Louis Jordan with his amazing smile), and there’s an adorable performance by Leslie Caron. And Eva Gabor is very good in her small part, too. Vincente Minnelli directed it. It’s based on a Colette novel. The score is by Andre Previn. I’ve heard the movie get a lot of flack for winning 1958s best picture and other Oscars but it’s one of my favorite movies. Full of some stunning poetic movie lines like where Aunt Alicia says, "Marriage is not forbidden to us, but instead of getting married at once, it sometimes happens we get married at last."
My favorite scene is when Louis Jordan is in a fluff over Gigi and pacing around a restaurant table where his uncle, Maurice Chevalier, is sitting. Maurice tries to calm him down with the serious suggestion to:
“Have some cheese!”
I use this suggestion all the time as a calm-down phrase to Monsieur Big Bang–spoken very Frenchly:
“Have a piece of cheese!”
Speaking of great things to eat in France, the creator of Nutella has also died.
My first taste of Nutella was where some was stuffed in a pain au chocolat outside of Notre Dame in Paris.
It was pretty mind blowing.
I haven't honored him yet but I plan to this weekend.
A few days ago we also lost Leonard Nimoy. Although not very respected for his poetry in established circles, he did publish quite a bit of it.
To view a sample: http://leonardnimoypoetry.com/
His poetry book covers look a bit like the "Jack Handey's Deep Thoughts" from SNL, but here they are on Amazon.
If this makes you miss Jack Handey's Deep Thoughts, here is the site for you: http://www.deepthoughtsbyjackhandey.com/
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