death_date death_place birth_place name birth_date article_title birth_name occupation
3 october 2009 tucson , arizona wilmington , north carolina , united states will inman 4 may 1923 will inman -lrb- poet -rrb-
 william archibald mcgirt , jr. poet
will inman -lrb- poet -rrb-

will inman -lrb- born william archibald mcgirt , jr. -rrb- -lrb- may 4 , 1923 -- october 3 , 2009 -rrb- , was born in wilmington , north carolina , and graduated from duke university in 1943 .
he took his mother 's maiden name , inman , in part because his name became `` will in man '' .
he worked in a shipyard during world war ii , and became an activist in 1947 after summers of work in the blue ridge mountains .
he attempted , unsuccessfully , to organize tobacco industry workers .
like many in the american left , he joined the communist party but became disillusioned with its lack of humanity and left the organization .
he was called before the un-american activities committee in 1956 where he was accused of being the head of the communist party in north carolina .
inman took the fifth in response to all questions .
attempting a new start , he moved to new york city to begin life anew , working in libraries while focusing on writing in his free time .
from 1964 to 1977 he edited and published the seminal poetry newsletter `` kauri '' , part of the mimeo revolution of the sixties , where he published the work of charles bukowski , clarence major , walter lowenfels , william packard , ron silliman , john sinclair .
the title , kauri , is the hindi word for the seashell known to english speaking peoples as a cowrie shell .
in 1967 he was appointed poet-in-residence at american university , teaching there and at montgomery college in rockville , maryland .
he has also been an activist for many humanist causes including anti-war and gay rights efforts .
he moved to tucson , arizona in 1973 .
he completed a memoir in 1998 but red crane books decided not to publish it .
a copy of his memoir has been donated to the rubenstein rare book library at duke university .
he died in 2009 after having parkinson 's disease .
his letters , manuscripts , and publications are collected at duke university and at the university of north carolina wilmington .
