America has lost a great man of letters. George Garrett was as generous a man as I've ever met. A couple of years ago, I e-mailed him for advice about a contest I was judging. His eyesight was by then so bad he couldn't read much on the computer. He sent me a long letter in response in his big script. I felt terrible I had intruded. And he was funny and charming. He could have done stand-up, and sometimes he did. I'll miss him. Here's an interview with Archipelago. George taught at FIU for a year before I was here and came as a visiting writer. He was also on the staff of our writing conference one year. Here's aVQR remembrance with links to essays about George. (thanks to Ran in Charlottesville) Three poems by George Garrett.

John Dufresne