The world will see no more Max Ritvo poems, and for that, I grieve.
Read Helen Vendler’s review of his Four Reincarnations in Poetry. Better yet, read the book. It’ll make you ache.
O at the Edges
Musings on poetry, language, perception, numbers, food, and anything else that slips through the cracks.
O at the Edges 
i can’t believe someone that young could write so well. He is my brothers age. i need to get Four Reincarnations, he is my kind of poet. i grieve with you for this loss. So few poets exist with this sort of ability. Vendler does him justice with a fine & human piece.
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Yes, what could have been! Such depth, and humor.
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The perfect traits of a good poet. He could have surpassed Berryman in his scope.
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Wow! wowowoowoowwwww! Milkweed, eh? Guess more than just Tupelo Press is going to get my poetry pennies….thanks for the tip!
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It’s a fine book. Outstanding.
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I had never heard of Max until now. What a mind!! Thanks for turning me onto his work, Sensei!!
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Interesting and original work!
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I just read the New Yorker piece on him. HOLY SH*T! His work is beyond genius. If he does not become documented in the history books as a/the great poetic mind of the 21st or indeed any century, it will be a crime against humanity.
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Was that the piece by Lucie Brock-Broido? Her poetry will knock your socks off, too.
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I must look her up if you say so. Shimasu!!
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I wish he didn’t have to face his own mortality yet could he have developed such sensitivity that is essential for poets at such an early age? I wish he didn’t have to die to have such words written about him; I read them and wish that he can read them too.
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Same here, Mary.
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