[New-Poetry] Jim Simmerman

[Anny Ballardini]

Doubly sad.
It reminds me of a passage in the Idiot by Dostoyevsky.

  From: Joseph Duemer 

  Sent: Wednesday, July 05, 2006 4:19 AM



  Ms. Byrkit informs me by email that she has known Jim for 27 years. She disputes my version of the facts presented above & in my blog post. She urges me to "be cool," which strikes me as fatuous advice, frankly. Especially since she suggested that I was contributing to an overflow of rumors about Jim. Clearly, she wants very badly to own the narrative. 


  On 7/4/06, Joseph Duemer <duemer at gmail.com> wrote:
    Rebecca Byrkit just posted the folloing on my weblog:

    <<Friends,

    Small stuff, but Jim simmerman did not give away his dog Bandit—she died four months ago. Also he did not, as Joseph D. says, "suffer from arthritis his entire life" but rather for about seven years'. Not crucial, but James (Jay, executor of Jim's estate and the person who found Jim) and I are sensitive to accuracy at this crucial point, and the rumors are already overflowering—
    Thanks and more soon! may I quote Jim's and James' kind words about Jim in my article with the Sun?>>

    I would simply like to say, as someone who knew Jim much longer than Ms. Byrkit, that Jim's arthritis was long-standing. He quit doing karate in grad school because of it. If Ms. Byrkit is interested in accuracy, as she says, she will not discount as "rumor" the testimony of a friend of long-standing. Whatever other rumors may be "overflowing" Jim's physical pain for many years is something that many of his old friends will attest to. Whether that pain contributed to his suicide is anyone's guess, but the fact of that pain should not be in dispute. So is it "small stuff" or a "crucial point"? Frankly, I resent this attempt to take control of the narrative, especially since there can be no reason other than selfishness to do so. 



    On 7/2/06, Joseph Duemer < duemer at gmail.com> wrote:
      When Jim & I worked together on Dog Music, we gave the profits to our two local animal shelters. Maybe those organizing the memorial would like to suggest donations to the Flagstaff animal shelter or some other organization & provide contact information. Just a thought. 

      Here is what I wrote about Jim just now on my blog:

      I heard last night that my old grad school mate & Dog Music collaborator Jim Simmerman has taken his own life. Jim had suffered all his life from debilitating arthritis & given that he was a natural athlete, he was constantly in pain. Though we worked together on an extended project, Jim & I were not particularly close, but I feel his loss acutely nevertheless. Jim was among the most honorable & honest people I have known—any dishonesty, no matter how small, deeply offended him, which could make him severe. His severity, though, was always in defense of the good & the honorable. This attitude is one of the things that made him a strong & effective member of the AWP Board—I know because I served on that board shortly after Jim left it. We are always shocked by suicide, but one thing I know about Jim is that even this most radical & final act would have been taken in a state of existential awareness. I know that he lived as long as he could. There was a big storm here last night that broke shortly after I learned of Jim's death & I will let that mark his death in my memory.




      On 7/1/06, Rsgwynn1 at cs.com < Rsgwynn1 at cs.com> wrote:
      In a message dated 7/1/2006 9:07:41 PM Central Standard Time, duemer at gmail.com writes: 

        I just heard about this. Jim &I were at Iowa together in the late 70s, then worked together on Dog Music a decade later. I just don't know what to say right now. 

        Joe



      I'm sorry, Joe.  Jim Cervantes has some details. 



  -- 
  Joseph Duemer
  Professor of Humanities
  Clarkson University
  [chujoe.net]

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