Dick Lourie (1937) is an American poet, editor, and musician and the author of eight books, with the most recent as of 2023 being Jam Session.[1][2]

Career

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Lourie was a student of Denise Levertov in her first class.[3]

In 1966 he was a co-founding editor of Hanging Loose Press, a small press in Brooklyn, NY, which publishes chapbooks, poetry, non-fiction, and fiction, as well as Hanging Loose Magazine.[4]

In 1968, he signed the "Writers and Editors War Tax Protest" pledge, vowing to refuse tax payments in protest against the Vietnam War.[5]

He has edited, along with Mark Pawlak, two anthologies of high school writing Smart Like Me and Bullseye. In 2000, he released a CD, Ghost Radio Blues, a mix of blues and spoken word. He formerly worked as an editor for the University of Massachusetts.[6] Smoke Signals (film) ends with his poem "Forgiving Our Fathers." A 2001 song cycle by composer Robert Maggio includes texts by Lourie, Mark Strand, and Billy Collins is also titled "Forgiving Our Fathers".[7]

Biography

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Lourie was born in 1937 and grew up in Brooklyn, in a family described by him as "Depression era-middle class-left wing-socialist-communist-Brooklyn-Jewish, not necessarily in that order".[8] He currently resides in Somerville, Massachusetts, with his wife, Abby Freedman.[9]

Dick Lourie
letter jacket
 
Dick Lourie often wears a letter jacket with 'POET' on the back
  https://flickr.com/photos/chris_pix/11764182195

Bibliography

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  • Ghost Radio. Hanging Loose (1998)
  • If the Delta was the Sea. Hanging Loose (2008)
  • Jam Session and Other Poems Hanging Loose (2020)

References

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  1. ^ "Dick Lourie". Poetry Foundation. 6 October 2023. Retrieved 6 October 2023.
  2. ^ Choi, J.; Fuhrman, J.; Hershon, E.; Lourie, D.; Pawlak, M. "Jam Session". www.spdbooks.org. Retrieved 6 October 2023.
  3. ^ "Jacket 36 - Late 2008 - Dick Lourie: Two poems". jacketmagazine.com. Retrieved 6 October 2023.
  4. ^ "Hanging Loose Press". Poets & Writers. 23 January 2008. Retrieved 6 October 2023.
  5. ^ “Writers and Editors War Tax Protest” January 30, 1968 New York Post
  6. ^ "Talking with Somerville poet/musician Dick Lourie - The Somerville News Blog". Somervillenews.typepad.com. 17 March 2005. Retrieved 31 July 2014.
  7. ^ "Forgiving Our Fathers". Robert Maggio. Retrieved 6 October 2023.
  8. ^ "Cervena Barva Press Poetry Interview with Dick Lourie". www.cervenabarvapress.com. Retrieved 6 October 2023.
  9. ^ Ghost Radio by Dick Lourie. Hanging Loose Press: Brooklyn, NY; 1998