A Condition of the Spirit: The Life and Work of Larry Levis
"I had to stop and tell the audience what I had to tell myself, that my brother in poetry, my dear friend, had died, and that I owed the lines I had just read to Larry Levis. I did not tell them that for thirty years his fierce devotion to his art had served as my inspiration and model. I did not tell them that I found in his poetry an originality and daring that urged me to risk more in my own writing. I did not tell them that when I am weary of the mediocrity and smallness of so much that passes for poetry I go to Larry's work and revive my belief in the value of the art we shared . . . The Dollmaker's Ghost, Winter Stars, and The Widening Spell of the Leaves . . . are collections of poetry that will last as long as our language survives . . ." (Philip Levine)