Comments on: Poets House Tribute to Reginald Shepherd (1963-2008)

By: Brett Ortler

Brett Ortler — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 02:05:07 +0000

I’m an editor at a literary magazine and Mr. Shepherd had just sent our magazine poems. We accepted one, and a day or so later I read that he had died. It was a damn shock, as I he was one of those writers that I was really looking forward to get to know. I’m happy to report that we just ran the poem “White Noise” in our second issue (it was the last poem in the issue), and it’s a fine piece.
For what’s it worth, we named our poetry contest after him, but even that gesture doesn’t feel like much.
http://www.knockout.org/rsprize.htm
http://www.knockoutlit.org/blog.html
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By: Don Share

Don Share — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 16:27:47 +0000

You can read Kevin Prufer’s appreciation of Reginald’s Orpheus in the Bronx, finalist for the National Book Critic Circle’s prize in criticism, by clicking here. Winners announced tonight!
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By: Camille Dungy

Camille Dungy — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 04:57:32 +0000

Reginald Shepherd’s voice and poems and eye and essays and poems and wisdom and spirit and poems will be deeply missed.
Tomorrow will be a charged and marvelous night.
–Camille Dungy
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By: Alan Contreras

Alan Contreras — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 03:58:58 +0000

I am glad to hear about the Shepherd tribute. I have funded a prize bearing his name at the University of Oregon, where he was scheduled to speak before the terminal stages of his illness prevented it. The prize will be for undergraduates and will alternate annually between poetry and criticism. Anyone interested in how this prize will work may contact Dr. Karen Ford at the University of Oregon English Department, fordk@uoregon.edu.
He was an extraordinary and truly original voice. My parting words about him appeared in Inside Higher Education on October 16, 2008.
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