Paul Lake
 

Some of you may remember poet and critic Paul Lake. He and his wife Tina passed within days of each other.

https://russellvillefamilyfuneral.co.../paul-lake-iii

I am sorry to hear it. It is terrible that they should both die so young. No cause of death was mentioned, so I am assuming that Covid was to blame.

Susan

Paul had had Alzheimer's for a good while. I don't know about Tina, who was very talented. You can find some of luminous watercolors on line.

I did not know that Paul had Alzheimer's. That is tough on anyone, and I think particularly awful for those whose most cherished work is mental.

Susan

Thanks for letting us know, Sam, though it's very sad to hear.
Paul accepted some of my early work, and I have reason to be grateful to him.

I'm saddened by this as well; it feels so sudden. I never met Paul, but he was an accomplished poet and an editor who was a pleasure to work with. Rest in peace.

That's very sad news--and so much tragic that his wife too passed just days before. And Paul was a former moderator here at Eratosphere. He'll be greatly missed.

...Alex

Paul and I (born just a few weeks apart) could scarcely have had less in common where religion and politics were concerned, but poetry forged a connection. He published a couple of my poems before I swore off submitting to First Things, and I admired his Republic of Virtue. While I was still searching for a way to write about my mother’s dementia, I found a kind of sustenance and encouragement in his writing about the end of his father’s life. I’m sorry to learn that the people who loved him had to cope with the same kind of loss that he and I faced with our parents.

Paul was pretty courageous in pushing to publish two of my poems critical of the Catholic Church's handling of clergy abuse while he was poetry editor of First Things. He wasn't optimistic about being able to pull that off, but he did, and I was very grateful. That was precisely the audience I wanted to reach with those particular pieces.

My condolences to his family for their double loss.