September 3, 2017

Note on my Facebook page this AM:

Esteemed Professor,
We don't actually know one and other personally, so I find it if not prudent, than cautiously familiar to tell you that you have remained a huge influence and inspiration for me, ever since I took your intro to English poetry class. 
Which was 2000ish.
I was close to A for many years, and if knowing her through the auspice of loving one of her daughters complicated my relationship to her, it never complicated my understanding of her gigantic talents.
She had only a few close peers, and you were one.
So, by the time I was in your class, I'd already had the chance to come to respect you socially. Which allowed me to put more of myself into the class than an average Liberal Arts major.
My relationship with academia is complicated and school was a place I had trouble fitting in, neither with my peers nor my role as a pupil.
You are a person who helped me stay dedicated to my own growth, and growing my talents.
I think fondly of how deeply that class impacts my life.
It feels simple and privileged to have fallen in love with poetry and the muse in such a bucolic setting.
I only hope to be a better and better acolyte of inspiration.
Happy Birthday, many laudations and toasts in your honor!
-OJB.

I remember the young man as being heartsick, sincere, and, at that point, almost ludicrously beautiful.

Ate at a barbecue place yesterday. Talked with me neighbor, a red giant speech pathologist who hates barbecue but comes there for a peerless chicken sandwich. My waitress is studying languages, and worried about her Japanese because she quarreled with her Japanese friend. As she passed me my bill she said, “I gave you a friends discount, to thank you for Readings in the Drama class all those years ago.” It is sometimes necessary to hear these things--