David was my creative writing and American culture professor at Evergreen in the early '80s.
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I am now a college English professor and writer. I ended up doing these things in part because of David's encouragement and inspiration. Although he was in great physical pain most of the time I knew him, he always did his best to teach, to question, and to inspire, and recommend a lot of really good books in the process. We met and talked a number of times after I graduated in 1982. His first question was always, "What are you reading?" From there a great conversation would invariably unfold. He encouraged me to be free to read poetry for the sheer joy of it. He introduced me to Wallace Stevens' "Snow Man" and "Sunday Morning" with its day "like wide water without sound". I know that most of us who teach do so in part because of the teachers we had. I thank him; I toast his memory; I mourn (...)