I send my warmest condolences to Steve Kowit’s family. Steve was one of my
poetry heroes. I am grateful to have known and loved him. Over the years, when he
signed the bottom of his letters and books with the word “hugs,” he meant
it. In 1981, when he operated Gorilla Press, he published a broadside of one of his
own poems, the beautiful and powerful “They Are Looking for Che Guevara.”
It remains for me one of the most influential poems of my generation. Today, I read
this poem and find I am looking for Steve Kowit in every word. Thank you, Steve.
Hugs.
—First published on 13 April 2015 in response to “Last Will by Steve
Kowit” in San Diego Free Press (3 April 2015); appears here with
author’s permission
is a satirist, literary provocateur, and social activist. His poetry and prose have
appeared in publications and media outlets in the U.S. and abroad since 1971, including
The Wormwood Review, Mother Jones, Saturday Night Live, and Krokodil
(Moscow). His latest collection is The Hollywood Catechism (Silver Birch
Press, 2015). In 1982, he received the Howitzer Prize for his poem, “Sinatra,
Sinatra,” an award he himself created and exposed as a literary hoax to reveal
the absurd nature of competitive awards. The following year, “Commercial
Break” received both the Prix de Voltaire (Paris) and the Ambrose Bierce Prize
(San Francisco) for upholding the traditions of socio-political satire.
A native of San Francisco, Fericano serves as director of
Instruments of
Peace/SafeNet, a nonprofit reconciliation group established in 2003
for survivors of clergy sexual abuse, and writes an online column on the healing
process, A Room with a
Pew.