I was really so saddened to hear of the death of the great poet Jerome Rothenberg. One of the grand figures of 20th century global, and originary poetry, his work was decisive in my starting to write. He was a huge influence on thousands of poets, and not just in his extraordinary style, but in his vision of a poet’s responsibility to extend their own perceptions to change and expand what we take poetry to be. It is easier to evidence this in his anthologising, and to say that a variety of his anthologies changed poetry as we know it, as a medium. But it went beyond this. He was a great example, and a wonderfully kind man.

In october 2016 I was very fortunate to spend a few days with him and his wife in London, having dinner, walking the city, getting to know him, all too briefly. On the evening of october 17th, Birkbeck college was kind enough to ask me to perform a piece in his honour, and I did so by reading and remaking and remixing some of his poems that had been particularly influential on me, in and around my poems that responded to his. At the very end of the performance, he joined me, painting on the scroll I had made, which remains in my studio. We corresponded a little over the years since, but the news of his death has really brought home to bear how extraordinary a man he was, and how enormous his legacy, and how deeply fortunate I am to have briefly crossed paths with him.