my own kevin killian

i suspect many of us poets, artists, filmmakers, playwrights etc etc, have our own kevin killian stories & memories.  because kevin is that type of person: good, generous & warm.  he was also a massively talented writer whether it be in prose, verse or amazon reviews [really, kevin amassed a great quantity of reviews posted at amazon.com that a goodly selection were gathered up & published as a book].

he was also a man of great taste who cared not a whit for the distinction between high & low art.  kitsch was a prime mover for kevin.  he even harbored a love of horror cinema that birthed the collection of poems, argento series [krupskaya; 2001], based on the films of italian horror maestro dario argento.  kevin studied these films as a way of dealing with the horror of friends succumbing to AIDS.

i don't remember how we found each other or who first reached out to who.  but if you are reading this note then you are well aware that kevin killian had a great talent for friendship.  he created communities of writers & artists by his warmth & generosity.  & i am surprised, not by death, but by something else that eludes a name.  for i thought kevin killian was one of those very rare persons who would always be around.  thus we corresponded as many of us have with kevin.  he sent me his book argento series because of my own love of horror cinema.  he sent me a batch of his zine that he co-edited with his wife of many years, dodie bellamy, mirage period(ical).  i have the honor of being published in their zine with a series of sonnets based on the filmmaker/novelist ed wood.  but we never met even tho we lived only 90 miles apart.  i thought there would always be time to meet.

i am gut-punched that death took another of our precious good ones.  not that i think anyone is immortal.  however, i look across our contemporary landscape of poetry, art, movies & think that a few are so integral to our border-free country of art it is inconceivable that they will not be around & found.  i must console myself by kevin's writings, of course, but most importantly, his gifts of being a good human being.  there are a great many more who knew kevin killian better & more intimately than i did.  we were fellow poets who corresponded about poetry & horror movies.  but even tho we failed to have that drink together i am comforted by the presence of his energy, his love of all things of this world [again, check out his amazon reviews for examples of his vast love], his love of art & writing & reading, & the love of friends.  these are the examples i take from kevin killian who lived an intense good life & who wrote into his life the art of living well.  that is how i shall praise him.