Reed May 01 full - Reed College

Poet Robert Peterson dies
R
gized poet, Peterson was one
Renowned poet Robert
Peterson, who was
writer in residence
at Reed from 1969
to 1971, died of cancer in
September at age 76 at his
home in Fairfax, California.
The author of nine books of
poetry and a widely antholo-
of the first artists to win a grant
from the National Endowment
for the Arts after its founding
in 1965, and one of the first to
edit an anthology of poems in
opposition to the Vietnam War.
Pulitzer Prize–winning poet
Carolyn Kizer said that he
“possessed a faultless ear for
the rythms of contemporary
speech” and praised his “marvelously
balanced lines.” Writer
Leonard Gardner said “His is a
voice of man’s comic nobility
in the midst of slow disaster.”
Peterson was born in Denver,
but the greatest influence in
his work was his childhood in
San Francisco’s Fielding Hotel,
a Union Square hotel that his
adoptive parents owned.
“Growing up in the hallways
and inner sanctums of the old
hotel, watching the passing
parade of gamblers, race-trackers,
jazz musicians, boxers,
The northwest earthquake and Reed
Asmall bit of damage on
campus—a broken window,
a cracked beam,
and a fallen shelf—
was reported as a result of the
6.8 magnitude earthquake on
Wednesday, February 28, that
was centered near Olympia,
Washington. The epicenter was
far enough away, and the
quake deep enough, so that
Portland was spared the kind of
shaking that was experienced
closer to Seattle.r
Reed publications win gold and silver
Two Reed publications
won awards from the
regional section of CASE,
the Council for the
Advancement and Support of
Education. Reed, the quarterly
magazine, won a gold medal,
and the Doyle Owl 2001 calendar
brought home a silver
medal. Paula Barclay, director
of publications, is the editor of
the magazine. The Doyle Owl
NEWS OF THE COLLEGE
and traveling salesman . . . he
developed a keen idiosyncratic
eye for human nature that
would later give his poems
their particular style and
charm,” said Joan Kloehn,
his companion of 14 years.
After leaving Reed Peterson
lived in Taos, New Mexico,
where he wrote a collection
of poems, Leaving Taos, that
was named a National Poetry
Series selection in 1981. He
then returned to the Bay Area,
where he started his own publishing
company, Black Dog
Press, and created artworks
that were shown in local galleries.
He also served as writer
in residence at Oregon’s
Willamette University from
1991 to 1992.
“If the great Japanese haiku
poet Kobayashi Issa were to
resurface. . . . he would take the
name of Robert Peterson,” said
Oregon poet Clemens Starck.r
calendar was conceived by the
news and publications staff and
designed by staff member Laurel
Slater; it includes photo illustrations
by Aurelia Carbone of
Reed’s computer user services.r
may
29
2001