In Memoriam
One Richard Outram froze to death.
He chose that end, from evidence.
Fitting, perhaps, that that last breath
Should seep unseen as heat''s lost dance.
For fate, he feared, his one true love
Already stared on streets of Hell.
Fitting his blood refuse to move
That hadn''t seen its path as well.
Oh, he''d gone down, he had gone down
And stood before the throne of jet.
He''d taken bottle and her gown
To dress the nakedness he''d met.
He''d taken all his strength and sight
And nearer he got to the deep
The fuller sang the longing. Fright
So vast, dear reader, wake your sleep.
Outram was born in Canada in 1930. He was a graduate of the
University of Toronto (English and Philosophy), and worked for many
years at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation as a stagehand crew
leader. He wrote more than twenty books, four of these published by
the Porcupine''s Quill (Man in Love [1985, Hiram and
Jenny [1988, Mogul Recollected [1993, and Dove
Legend [2001). He won the City of Toronto Book Award in 1999
for his collection Benedict Abroad (St Thomas Poetry
Series). His poetry is the subject of a significant work of
literary criticism, Through Darkling Air: The Poetry of Richard
Outram, by Peter Sanger (Gaspereau Press, 2010).
Richard Outram died in 2005.