[New-Poetry] Len Roberts

[David Baratier]

I knew Len very well for a number of years, he was a nice guy, part of the group through West Branch that accepted me in my mid twenties in some form of admiration that included Jim Daniels and Billy Collins. Therefore I was really feeling this one, Len even judged our first chapbook contest, cause Gerald Stern convinced me, wanted a chap out from us that I never got around to. Len always had narrative poetry mostly about religion based experiences from somewhere in upstate NY. I think when I presented at AWP in 1999 might have been the last time I saw him tho we talked on the phone at other times after. Len was in a persuit of the narrative of James Wright mixed with a heavy influence of Lowell and the confessionals. There was a book that had something about Black angels that seemed his best from the half dozen he sent over the decades. I am just surprised-- 
   
  it reminds me of something I was told which might be the best elegy in some way, as when Len talked as a peer he:
            "talked about motivation, the feeling, the unsound that is around the universe. They explain everything to one understanding. They bring it all together, and when they finish, just one word comes out. Just one word. They might talk all day, and just one word comes out." 
      --Wallace Black Elk

   
  All I can think of, I have called who I needed to, go from there.


Be well

David Baratier, Editor

Pavement Saw Press
PO Box 6291
Columbus, OH 43206
http://pavementsaw.org
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