Reactions to Poetry Forum demise

 Sam Hazo's decision to wind up 43 years of International Poetry Forum programs continues to reverberate. Here's a message from Mary Alice Gorman, co-iowner of Mystery Lovers Bookshop, Oakmont, after a blog entry of mine on remembering the old days:

 "Maybe after a fashion it was all button-down shirts, rep ties and penny loafers.   I remember the early days with readings on campus…….waiting for Galway Kinnell to return from Selma AL bloodied and bruised……playing with Judy Collins’ son backstage at her performance at the Duquesne theater……hearing James Dickey’s reading and trying to relate that to "Deliverance"….we were all pretty common folk commuting to college and working. Maybe by the time Yevtushenko came to Pgh, simultaneous with the arrival of Sam’s son, we did dress up a bit.

One thing that Sam holds dear is that poetry is an essence basic to our culture……..the Forum will be missed."