RIP James Liddy, Irish Poet and My Teacher

[RetroLounge]

James Liddy was my poetry professor one semester of graduate school at UW-Milwaukee back in the early 90's. I remember his class being quite a bit of fun, and very educational. The thing I remember most was his office hours were from 11:30am to 1:30pm at Axels, a local tavern, and you could meet him there any day for a beer and conversation.

http://www.jsonline.com/news/obituaries/34240804.html

"Hey, ho, Liddy don't go" - that was a line in the chorus of a song by McTavish, a Milwaukee Irish music band, that paid tribute to James Liddy.

The song, from the 1990s, called Liddy "the king of the rovers." Mark Shurilla, the band's leader, said the line about not going was referring to the many nights Liddy, an internationally known poet, would hold court at local pubs, telling stories, giving erudite discourses on history, literature, politics or just about any other subject. When he got up to leave, people pleaded with him to stay. Often, he would.

But now he is gone, and it is a great loss to the cultural scene in Milwaukee, in the eyes of many local poets and others. Liddy, 74, died Wednesday, two months after being diagnosed with renal cancer.

"He was like your ultimate Irish convivial spirit who would just love to hang around with everybody," Shurilla said.

Jim Hazard, a Milwaukee poet and writer, called Liddy "a classic Bohemian." Hazard said Liddy loved to be in a university classroom, working with students, which he had done at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee since 1976. But he loved more to be in a saloon or restaurant where he could hold forth and often get many others involved in the conversation.

Godspeed Prof. Liddy...

RL

[Parche]

1. RL

May the road rise to meet you. May the wind be always at your back.May the sun shine warm upon your face.May the rains fall soft upon your fields and until we meet again, May the Lord hold you in the palm of His hand.


:hi: :hug:

[Deja Q]

2. .

:hug:

[PittPoliSci]

3. ah damn...

i really enjoyed his writing. lots of good writers keep dying and there aren't many good ones (IMO) out there replacing them.