________________________________________________________________________________________________
This is the third obituary page
with the same format
The first two
were
+
Infinity could be
another name
for how many
happy feet
there are
—on Planet Earth—
because of the talents
of the Isley Brother
and the man
from Margaritaville
***
Please excuse the quality
of the photograph below
Shot moments ago,
it is the masthead
of a college
literary magazine
from 1968
Sometimes MEMORY
gets very fuzzy
In 1968,
I was surprised
and delighted
to be listed
as a "staff member"
Peter Iacangelo
graduated from
Suffolk Community College
that year
and moved to
California
I did not see him again
until I attended
a Celebrity Chess Event
because my mentor
from Jefferson High School
insisted I attend
The year was 1995-ish
Another celebrity
in attendance
was Graham Nash
whom my mentor
defeated three games
out of three
I had spoken
on the phone
with Peter
in 1985,
shortly after
he was featured
on CHEERS in the
Cliff's Rocky Moment
episode
Meaning that after
Iacangelo was
my poetry "editor"
during my first
year of college,
there was only
one face-to-face
communication
between us
But the morning after
the Chess Tournament,
I had a phone message
from Peter Iacangelo
which consisted of
his recital of
one of my poems
featured in
IMAGES 1968
According to his
Peter appeared
on the "silver screen"
seventy times
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If you were to "dedicate" this obituary to anyone who would it be?
ReplyDeleteThank you for asking:
Delete1. Joe Curran
2. Paulette Palmer
3. Mary Anne Zsembery
4. Robert Reinig
5. Joe Juettner (sp?)
6. Mort Meckloskey
7. Charles Robinson
et al
Curran, Robinson, and Meckloskey are not strangers
to this blog.
Reinig + myself both transferred to SUNY Stonybrook
and Robert kept me interested in all matters related
to poetry. (He has an excellent blog of short stories)
-Oliverio
Which of your poems from IMAGES did Peter recite on the phone?
ReplyDelete"Son, The Highest Cloud Is The Floor Of Heaven."
DeleteThat poem was blogged in one of the prefaces
to the Iacangelo obituary
-Oliverio