From Mark Lamoureux
He saw the birdwatcher in the distance
raised the gun to his head, the woman yelled
"oh lord" the animals scattered and he fired.
A sameness of birds flew off in his direction.
A smart sheep learned to see a human dying.
Then he was headlines, a bullet's report.
Quotes of friends who'd seen his rise to fame.
A few appearances and a private library,
only the chief librarian never answered.
His poems stirred the old feeling underground
where love still made its signal word for live
and silent with their truth they passed around
declaratives like cheaper currency,
the coiling of the wind in groves of autumn,
an old vagrant fogging wiping and looking in.
--Ben Mazer from January 2008
The above poem was written by my good friend Ben Mazer shortly after the suicide of our friend Landis Everson in November 2007. Since then, the poetry community has lost still others to suicide. Indeed, it seems like an almost annual event that news is heard of another colleague and comrade who has taken his or her own life. I myself have even at points come perilously close to being just such a statistic. It is for this reason, that I've decided this year to be a part of the AFSP Out of the Darkness Overnight Walk in Boston on June 26-27th. This is an 18-mile overnight walk to raise awareness and funds for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (for more information on the organization and its programs, go to the website here: http://www.afsp.org/).
My fundraising goal is $1,000, but I hope to exceed this, so every small donation helps. If you or someone you love is or has been affected by depression and/or suicide, please consider helping me in my efforts to support an organization working to intervene in these instances, and to raise general awareness concerning the often stigmatized topics of mental illness and suicide--something that affects not just poets but countless other individuals, many of whom need not become statistics or memories.
You can reach my fundraising page here: http://www.theovernight.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=extranet.personalpage&confirmid=10016122 to make tax-deductible donations online.
Thank you for your time, and my apologies if you have received this message from me more than once.
Sincerely,
Mark
raised the gun to his head, the woman yelled
"oh lord" the animals scattered and he fired.
A sameness of birds flew off in his direction.
A smart sheep learned to see a human dying.
Then he was headlines, a bullet's report.
Quotes of friends who'd seen his rise to fame.
A few appearances and a private library,
only the chief librarian never answered.
His poems stirred the old feeling underground
where love still made its signal word for live
and silent with their truth they passed around
declaratives like cheaper currency,
the coiling of the wind in groves of autumn,
an old vagrant fogging wiping and looking in.
--Ben Mazer from January 2008
The above poem was written by my good friend Ben Mazer shortly after the suicide of our friend Landis Everson in November 2007. Since then, the poetry community has lost still others to suicide. Indeed, it seems like an almost annual event that news is heard of another colleague and comrade who has taken his or her own life. I myself have even at points come perilously close to being just such a statistic. It is for this reason, that I've decided this year to be a part of the AFSP Out of the Darkness Overnight Walk in Boston on June 26-27th. This is an 18-mile overnight walk to raise awareness and funds for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (for more information on the organization and its programs, go to the website here: http://www.afsp.org/).
My fundraising goal is $1,000, but I hope to exceed this, so every small donation helps. If you or someone you love is or has been affected by depression and/or suicide, please consider helping me in my efforts to support an organization working to intervene in these instances, and to raise general awareness concerning the often stigmatized topics of mental illness and suicide--something that affects not just poets but countless other individuals, many of whom need not become statistics or memories.
You can reach my fundraising page here: http://www.theovernight.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=extranet.personalpage&confirmid=10016122 to make tax-deductible donations online.
Thank you for your time, and my apologies if you have received this message from me more than once.
Sincerely,
Mark
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