When W.S. Merwin died on March 15, 2019, friends across the world shared remembrances. We have gathered them here.
President Barack Obama
“I’ve drawn inspiration from Merwin’s writing because it teaches us about ourselves, our world, and how we as humans connect to nature. Most of us don’t spend a lot of time on poetry but Merwin’s death reminded me of how a good poem can inspire and instruct.”
Edward Hirsch
Edward Hirsch remembers his long friendship with the late W. S. Merwin. https://t.co/QIATT0df66
— The Paris Review (@parisreview) March 15, 2019
Naomi Shihab Nye
Remembering W.S. Merwin, Honorary Texan https://t.co/N76y1zdwl1
— The Texas Observer (@TexasObserver) March 25, 2019
Bill McKibben
RIP W.S. Merwin, masterful poet, deep environmentalist, great friend, and a man connected to his planet like few others
— Bill McKibben (@billmckibben) March 15, 2019
On the last day of the world
I would want to plant a tree
Terry Tempest Williams
The palms Merwin planted must be both weeping over his death and celebrating his life, as we are. Oh how I loved him https://t.co/L4feANa0bG
— TerryTempestWilliams (@TempestWilliams) March 15, 2019
Beloved William Merwin passed this morning. I am so deeply grateful for his friendship, his influence, his words and the poems he leaves us
— TerryTempestWilliams (@TempestWilliams) March 15, 2019
Dr. Hope Jahren
On the last day of the world, I would want to plant a tree,” is an oft-quoted line from W.S. Merwin’s poem, “Place.” He wrote leaves of poetry, but he also grew real trees, thousands of them, writes @HopeJahren. https://t.co/mDRg8XXsSy
— NYT Opinion (@nytopinion) March 19, 2019
Re: my piece in the @nytopinion. Please visit and/or become a supporter of the Merwin Conservancy.https://t.co/uxKjZMRqpz
— Hope Jahren (@HopeJahren) March 19, 2019
Tracy K. Smith
“Merwin’s death marks a terrible loss for poetry. But the largeness of his vision, and the fact that his work is so profound as to be inexhaustible, is an immense consolation.”
— Princeton Arts (@princetonarts) March 21, 2019
— Tracy K. Smithhttps://t.co/wW9RMA47L2
Jane Hirshfield
“William is sometimes described as a poet of the numinous and absence. But he was a poet of this world, which he loved, cultivated, and restored. The poems continue to hold it all, just as each planted tree in France and in Hawaii does.” —Jane Hirshfield https://t.co/0f2RrtZqk6 pic.twitter.com/0rK8pwLvY4
— Poets.org (@POETSorg) March 17, 2019
Christopher Merrill and Alice Quinn
“Who more than Merwin endowed the day with that seed? Who could possibly approach him as a sower of immortal images in our poetry, the sounds and scents of landscapes?” https://t.co/RUavoYNzbv
— The Paris Review (@parisreview) March 19, 2019
Carrie Fountain
The New Yorker
Here’s my remembrance of Merwin & his work @NewYorker: https://t.co/IyZDfPfnRi
— Kevin Young (@Deardarkness) March 20, 2019
The poems of W. S. Merwin’s mature career were often Delphic, haunted, and bleak. They seemed to have been delivered unto him, and he transcribed them by lightning flash. https://t.co/Z4biUog5VT
— The New Yorker (@NewYorker) March 17, 2019
Kenyon Review
.@davidbakerpoet writes, “The breadth and generosity of his translations, his transcendent prose, his hope and hands-in-the-dirt ecological stewardship, his soulful presence: there is no greater example of what a poet is, to me, than William Merwin.”https://t.co/7MQ7QN0ESc
— Kenyon Review (@kenyonreview) March 16, 2019
Orion Magazine
All of us at Orion were saddened by the news of W.S. Merwin’s death. Merwin, who served as an advisor to Orion for many years, was a true friend to the magazine: https://t.co/rxTUBkLZXJ
— Orion Magazine (@Orion_Magazine) March 18, 2019
Alex Steffen
Though he is now gone from the world, W.S. Merwin remains one of America’s truly great poets—one whose words carried me through some of my darkest hours. pic.twitter.com/uxwAEeYgQ4
— Alex Steffen (@AlexSteffen) March 15, 2019
Susan Casey
We lost a giant today. Our beloved Maui friend and neighbor W.S. Merwin left us a surplus of beauty and wonder that will endure throughout time. Rest in peace with your beloved Paula, William. @merwincnsrvncy pic.twitter.com/0rSMHBBSV5
— susan casey (@caseymaui) March 15, 2019
Christopher Merrill
RIP W. S. Merwin: “I want to tell what the forests/ were like// I have to speak/in a forgotten language” Thank you for preserving and revitalizing that language.
— Christopher Merrill (@CLMerrill) March 15, 2019
Kevin Young
Saddened to hear of W.S. Merwin’s passing. He was one of the greats & one of my first poetry loves; got to interview him onstage a few years ago. The @NewYorker published over 200 of his poems over 70 years. Here’s a recent one: https://t.co/J7KGdM1BBS
— Kevin Young (@Deardarkness) March 15, 2019
Rachel Eliza Griffiths
Rachel Eliza Griffiths talks about the poetry she ripped out of magazines and carried around with her until it fell apart in her hands. https://t.co/AHU5tXvR4c
— The New Yorker (@NewYorker) April 18, 2019
Nicole Chung
“with the cities growing over us
— Nicole Chung (@nicole_soojung) March 16, 2019
we are saying thank you faster and faster
with nobody listening we are saying thank you
thank you we are saying and waving
dark though it is”
Merwin. <3 https://t.co/w28VPrVWCV
Michael Wiegers
“While we have lost a tremendous friend, the loss to American poetry is even more profound. From the stylistic inventions he introduced to the catalyzing force of his work in translation and international poetics, his influence on American poetry has been without equal.”
What an incredible life. Goodbye friend. pic.twitter.com/ItFMSrqQH0
— MWiegers (@MWiegers) March 15, 2019
Paul Holdengraber
R.I.P. W. S. MERWIN
— Paul Holdengraber (@holdengraber) March 16, 2019
‘There is only one thing I fear in life, my friend: one day, the black will swallow the red’
~ Mark Rothko pic.twitter.com/eygesbas3m
Stefan Schaefer
Kierán Suckling
W.S. Merwin (1927-2019)
— Kierán Suckling (@KieranSuckling) March 16, 2019
Have been dreading this day. Merwin was an extraordinary poet, naturalist & activist for peace, native rights and endangered species. Working with him several times has been a highlight of my years at @CenterForBioDiv. Goodbye friend.
(thread) pic.twitter.com/lZ8n6Y394r
Julianne Warren
“What you remember saves you. To remember
— ⌆ Julianne Warren ⌆ (@coyotetrail_) March 15, 2019
Is not to rehearse, but to hear what never
Has fallen silent…”–W.S. Merwin, “Learning a Dead Language”
He has given me so much to remember…
Summer Brennan
Dear W.S. Merwin, we are saying thank you. pic.twitter.com/GvXrUmG7O6
— Summer Brennan ?? (@summerbrennan) March 15, 2019
Jeffrey Brown
Great poet, great man: W.S. (William) Merwin. One of the most beautiful and inspiring days of my life, https://t.co/dmfrfyezW9 my wife and I walking through the palm reserve in Maui with William and his Paula. Love and gratitude to @wsmerwin and all @merwincnsrvncy
— Jeffrey Brown (@JeffreyBrown) March 16, 2019
Gregory Cowles
Unbearable to hear the Obits desk working the phones for W.S. Merwin. R.I.P.
— Gregory Cowles (@GregoryCowles) March 15, 2019
Seth Abrahmson
RIP, W.S. Merwin. One of the Greats. https://t.co/QxSIENrb4h
— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) March 16, 2019
Point Reyes Books
Powell’s Books
“Poetry is a way of looking at the world for the first time.” – W. S. Merwin (1927-2019). Merwin, a former U.S. Poet Laureate, was also a practicing Buddhist who spent his last years restoring a Hawaiian rainforest. We are grateful for all the beauty he brought into this world. pic.twitter.com/9IxrEQQUfw
— Powell’s Books (@Powells) March 19, 2019
PBS NewsHour
W.S. Merwin, a prolific and versatile poetry master who evolved through a wide range of styles as he celebrated nature, condemned war and industrialism and reached for the elusive past, died Friday at the age of 91.
— PBS NewsHour (@NewsHour) March 15, 2019
Learn more: https://t.co/gKYwbaSscr pic.twitter.com/pVN4Kxqqd8
Poetry Foundation
We are saddened by W.S. Merwin’s passing. Spend time reflecting on his legacy in this collection of his work. https://t.co/oSBZ8EGMbc pic.twitter.com/tSlRefCAcx
— Poetry Foundation (@PoetryFound) March 15, 2019
Copper Canyon Press
Rest in peace W.S. MERWIN (1927-2019)—beloved poet, dear friend. pic.twitter.com/LlqWwTjiWi
— Copper Canyon Press (@CopperCanyonPrs) March 15, 2019
The Library of America
“The Proteus of American Poets: W.S. Merwin,” 1927–2017
PEN America
Rest in peace, W.S. Merwin. pic.twitter.com/kOYxoxrvw1
— PEN America (@PENamerican) March 15, 2019
Lit Hub
This is an enormous loss. RIP, W.S. Merwin, who died today at 91.
— Literary Hub (@lithub) March 15, 2019
https://t.co/u8kGL33JwB
The Paris Review
Rest in peace, W. S. Merwin.
— The Paris Review (@parisreview) March 15, 2019
Read our 1987 interview with the Pulitzer Prize-winning poet, who passed away earlier today at the age of 91: https://t.co/1Qj1G0XkqD pic.twitter.com/EMNoGPxYT2
The New York Times
The poet W.S. Merwin has died at 91. His verse, marked by dissolution and absence, won him two Pulitzers and a National Book Award. https://t.co/pgT4uxcN16
— The New York Times (@nytimes) March 16, 2019
The Guardian
WS Merwin, Pulitzer-winning former US poet laureate, dies at 91 https://t.co/vnyNRPz2D9
— The Guardian (@guardian) March 16, 2019
Los Angeles Times
W.S. Merwin was the first poet I ever loved. I wrote a remembrance of him for the Los Angeles Times: https://t.co/RCrcdppb4y
— Michael Schaub (@michaelschaub) March 18, 2019
The Washington Post
My obit for W.S. Merwin, whose poems about the fragility of the natural world and the horrors of the Vietnam War earned him two Pulitzer Prizes and made him one of the preeminent English-language poets of the past five decades: https://t.co/OD5GVYBMTZ
— Harrison Smith (@harrisondsmith) March 15, 2019
Hawai‘i Public Radio
W.S. Merwin: Poet Laureate, Chronicler of Hawai’i History Dies at 91 https://t.co/Ff2y1AUTri
— Hawaii Public Radio (@wearehpr) March 15, 2019
Lisa Cloutier says
RIP W.S. Merwin – in Perfect equanimity. Thank you for the inspiration, the example, the winged words, the daylight, the homecoming. Through your life and humanity – the gift and grace of the Merwin palm forest and its story of renewal and possibility, and the gift and grace of your poetry, beautiful and powerful beyond measure, you truly remembered us to what it means to “dwell poetically.” Mind life garden nature rendered whole and lived as one –ah! Wonderful!
Eileen says
Such a beautiful tribute.
Leland Miyano says
We will always remember his words spoken and written
We will never forget his lessons and gentle kindnesses
The times and meals and laughter and tears together through the decades
And always the plants and places rooted our relationship
And Paula
William has now joined his great love
Yesterday I saw the first light and the last
Today is another day like countless others
But the loss of those
We who remain
But always there are his plants and places
A new day with wonderful memories and reminders of William
And the light and the rain
Aloha (“In the presence of the breath of life”},
Leland and Karen Miyano
Rafiq Kathwari says
News of you demise are greatly exaggerated
You are alive and rolling on a number 1 train
I am nodding my head reading
Remembering Summer
in The Bronx The Hague The Vatican
Margo Berdeshevsky says
Untitled
The man is quickened to memory
a star risen to where none may
touch but his poems and this iota of
the last time I visited amid the dim corners
the bend of fronds his ever caretakers
the surround of palms and on a crowded desk
an array of
tools with which he’d made poems
sculpted out of presence and absence and air
—in a corner of a corner of that room where
his chair still swivels and outside
the man’s shadow—paused on his long lanai
a brightening cloud along with fallen air
and seeds from the beak of a visiting blackbird
—both their meditations—
in a corner that day was a photograph of his long
ascended dog and in the man’s thick scrawl his words
NOW YOU HAVE /GONE /
HOW MUCH DOES /A SHADOW WEIGH !
—this day I bow to his
shadow and poems he has
not written yet
Aloha dear poet dear William.
(3/2019 for William, and for us all who treasured him.)
Kush Cloud House says
Rings of a Tree
Thank You William
Thank You Paula
Thank You Caretakers
Thank You Winds of Haiku
Thank You Rains
Thank You Leaves of Poet Tree
Thank You NOW Without End
Rings of a Tree
Children Today
Bark Bark Bark Bark
You Who Give This Life To Poetry
Do Not Let Our Planet Die
Thank You William!
Peace & Love
Kush Cloud House
Poetry Archives
Kush Cloud House says
Rings of a Tree
Thank You William
Thank You Paula
Thank You Caretakers
Thank You Winds of Haiku
Thank You Rains
Thank You Leaves of Poet Tree
Thank You NOW Without End
Rings of a Tree
Children Today
Bark Bark Bark Bark
You Who Give Life To Poetry
Do Not Let Our Planet Die!
Thank You William & ALL!
Peace & Love
Kush Cloud House
Poetry Archives
Mary Ann Larkin says
On the night at the Library of Congress in the nineties when the Academy awarded Merwin a major prize, Patric Pepper and I,coming late from work, bumped into Merwin in the hall. We had just been told there were no more seats for the event and we were very sadly on our way home. When we told Merwin about the situation, he was distressed, but after a very brief chat, we went on our way. A few minutes later, as we were waiting for the elevator, he came running breathlessly around the corner to tell us that he arranged for a sliding door to be opened so that there were now seats. “I’m so glad I caught you,” he said. I barely knew Merwin, this sweet, generous, active man who wanted no one turned away from poetry.
Mary Ann Larkin
Carolyn Kastner says
Thank you for the grace of your poems and the hope of the palm forest.
Jon Orsini says
I did not meet him personally but wrote a letter of gratitude a few years back to express how much his writing meant to me. I did not ask for a single thing in return, and yet he wrote back a beautiful, thought out, handwritten letter that I keep in a frame near my desk. What a gentlemen and expectional soul. His life is an inspiration. ❤
Christopher Dunn says
When I was a high school teenager, our family spent a summer in Spain. My father was a leading scholar of Spanish picaresque literature. One evening, he offered to read a portion of an English translation of “El Cid” to us boys. After reading one canto, we implored him to read another. And another. And another. He read the full thing! That was in 1971. Many many years later, I was living and working in Hawai’i. I told my father that I was hopping over to Maui form O’ahu to see William and Paula. He said, “tell them the ‘El Cid’ story!” It was only then that I came to know that the translation that my father read read to us was Merwin’s translation. I scoured the internet until I found a first edition hardcover copy of El Cid. William, being the loveliest and most thoughtful person on Earth, kindly signed it for my father (still going strong at 93). And my father sent me a copy of one of his books to share with William and Paula. What a great memory and what a great man. William and I exchanged letters, as he did with many many people. Long hand only! No email. I am honored, too, that we (Lyon Arboretum) shared palm seeds with him. Please, everyone, read “What is a Garden?” It is his most lasting legacy, I believe. William, I love you. Me ke aloha