Comments on: About Daniel

By: mike

mike — Wed, 15 Jun 2005 03:49:11 +0000

Dorothea, Joanna, RO, Michelle — thanks for the kind words.

Michelle, you’re right on the mark about not understanding parts of the people we’re grieving for: recalling my occasional impatience with Daniel’s immense earnestness makes me sad, and it makes me sad as well to think — despite the fact that he was a good friend — how little I genuinely knew him. And, yeah, that awareness of one’s limited knowledge of somebody else is really what punches you in the gut.

Some things to know about Daniel: he had straight brown hair and shockingly gorgeous pale blue eyes. He was part Cherokee, and that was really important to him. He’d had to do things for the Army that burned him up with guilt. He could be painfully earnest. He was a solid poet, more into the emotional and introspective stuff than the intellectual and formal stuff. And he was one of the most genuinely sweet people I’ve ever met.

By: michelle

michelle — Mon, 13 Jun 2005 03:43:23 +0000

That sucks. That’s how I feel about some of the people I’ve lost: cut down in the middle of life and I’m stunned. Self-inflicted or a victim. I think the most offensive part of dealing with death is not understanding parts of the people we’re grieving for. They’re gone. That’s it. We’re here. That’s it.

I miss people, too.

By: RageyOne

RageyOne — Mon, 13 Jun 2005 00:47:54 +0000

Sorry to hear about your friend Daniel. Death is never easy and we tend to not understand. For some reason, Daniel didn’t want to be here on Earth anymore. It is up to us who are left to morun to remember, accept, and keep going on.

By: mike

mike — Sun, 12 Jun 2005 21:13:05 +0000

After some feedback, I edited the post a little: in its original form, it came across as confrontational, which wasn’t my intent.

Anyway: this story, with its Kosovo Polje center, is one that Daniel helped me write, and some of the details are drawn from his experience.

By: mike

mike — Sun, 12 Jun 2005 19:29:53 +0000

I don’t know why his absence still strikes me so. Something about his being so earnest, and so disliked among those MFAs, and the things he’d had to do for the Army — they all intersect. Something about the weather, maybe: the last time I saw him was when we were having farewell beers together — him heading for New Mexico, me heading for Massachusetts — in a Pittsburgh bar, and the weather was hot and humid like it is now.

By: joanna

joanna — Sun, 12 Jun 2005 16:17:40 +0000

Not able to find the words to respond to this one, Mike. Just feel very sad for him, for you.

By: Dorothea Salo

Dorothea Salo — Sun, 12 Jun 2005 15:08:31 +0000

We don’t know, but we try to understand, some of us. Stories like this form part of our understanding.

I’m sorry about Daniel.