The sun is shining on another May, so the Blogster wants you to write a poem, maybe shed a tear, for Russell Edson.
(Photo: Poetry Foundation.)
Stamford Hospital officials have confirmed that Russell Edson, a noted poet and illustrator who was a long-time resident of Stamford and Darien, has died April 29 after a long illness. He was born in New York on December 12, 1928, attended the famous Black Mountain College and was a Guggenheim fellow. The Lawrence Funeral Home in Darien is handling arrangements. Edson illustrated his own books of surrealistic poems, including “The Childhood of an Equestrian,” (1973),”The Reason Why the Closet Man is Never Sad,” (1977), “The Wounded Breakfast,” (1978), “With Sincerest Regrets,” (1980), “The Tunnel,” (1994), “The Tormented Mirror,” (2001), and “The Rooster’s Wife,” (2005). Further details on his death are unavailable. Edson was widely anthologized and nationally recognized. He is survived by his wife, Frances, of Darien. Here’s one of his early ones and an enduring favorite of the Blogster.
THE REASON WHY THE
CLOSET-MAN IS NEVER SAD
This is the house of the closet-man. There are no rooms, just hallways and closets.
Things happen in rooms. He does not like things to happen.
… Closets, you take things out of closets, you put things into closets, and nothing happens…
Why do you have such a strange house?
I am the closet-man, I am either going or coming, and I am never sad.
But why do you have such a strange house?
I am never sad…