He was an accomplished writer and poet who taught for 35 years at Gustavus Adolphus College. He had received the Rhysling Award, the Devins Award for poetry, and had been a Poet Laureate of the League of Minnesota Poets. He was the author of over 20 books including The Frederick Manfred Reader, Counting Sheep; What Do I Know? New and Selected Poems; and Breaking the Rules: Starting with Ghazals. He was the editor of numerous anthologies, and a member of the Lady Poetesses from Hell collective in Minnesota.
I interviewed him five years ago for the Twin Cities Daily Planet when we were doing our Poet to Poet series. During a recent switch, some of the formatting got thrown off, but you can see it here. You can visit his website at: http://john.rezmerski.com/ to get a sense of the scope of his life and literary career.
On a personal note, I will say that John was among the first to welcome me to the Minnesota poets community when I first moved to the state, and he and the Lady Poetesses from Hell played a significant part in my understanding of what is possible within speculative poetry.
I particularly enjoyed his book, What Do I Know? and I have written poems where he has appeared or been a strong influence on the text, including the closing poem to my collection BARROW, "How To Build A Boat."
I shall miss him so.
His voice and vision will be deeply missed, and I am personally grateful for all that he shared with this world in the time we had.
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