Sunday, November 5, 2023

Born: 8/13/48 ... Died: 11/17/21 ... PETER IACANGELO

________________________________________________________________________________________________

 
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
________________________________________________________________________________________________

4 comments:

  1. If you were to "dedicate" this obituary to anyone who would it be?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you for asking:
      1. 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

      Delete
  2. Which of your poems from IMAGES did Peter recite on the phone?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. "Son, The Highest Cloud Is The Floor Of Heaven."

      That poem was blogged in one of the prefaces
      to the Iacangelo obituary

      -Oliverio

      Delete