It saddens me more than I can say to announce the death of American poet Lydia Tomkiw.
People who remember joe soap’s canoe may well remember poems in there by Lydia. She also came to the UK (I think it was 1991, I’m not sure) and did a reading tour with me and Paul Violi. It was one of the funniest and most enjoyable weeks of my life.
Back then, Lydia was one half of Algebra Suicide, the other half being her (then) husband Don Hedeker. I stayed at their place (I can't remember what year) in Chicago on a visit, read with her at a funky arty bar somewhere, and had a wonderful time.
People change, and life throws up all kinds of stuff, and Lydia and I lost touch. She split with Don, moved from Chicago to New York, and it seems she also lost touch with other people too. So it goes.
The circumstances of her death are not clear at the moment, but from what my friends in New York tell me it seems safe to say the circumstances are not pleasant ones.
Click here to find out how fucking good she was.
(Read Sharon Mesmer's personal memoir of Lydia Tomkiw here.)
Hi,
I just learned of Lydia's death after I attempted to send her an e-mail, which came back 'Failure to Deliver.' I am shocked!
I have known Lydia since around 2000, and was greatly concerned about her putting on a lot of weight. She didn't like talking about it. Having been a health & physical education major in college, I encouraged her to take off the weight by eating smartly and working out.
I hate to ask, but how did she die?
William
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