Lucien Stryk - the poet as my teacher

I am deeply saddened to learn of poet Lucien Stryk's passing. He was my teacher, for a couple of undergrad semesters right when I discovered I was a poet (he supported this notion of mine). I bumped into him on his way to our class the one & only time I blew off class. I told him I was skipping class; he said it was a wonderful idea; I should not come to class for it was a lovely spring day - the birds were outside and i should be too. I agreed the day was lovely but I admitted that in fact I was going to a dark basement to practice with my band - for which I sang & wrote the lyrics (poetry,therefore). He immediately announced that this too was a fine way to spend my time in lieu of attending the day's class. We were both rather amused and this meeting has remained one of the most entertaining & most reassuring coincidences I've ever experienced. Later, in a graduate independent study where we met occasionally to discuss my work he told me "Raymond, I cannot show you how to write." I already understood this but was a little surprised he expressed it that way; what followed displayed his winning dry humor. He told me that at that point he couldn't assist me any further than he had, that I already was a good writer: my writing was vibrant , imaginative , and that "It's particularly strong when you're upset about some woman." That last line was insightful, to the point, and one of the funniest things anyone has ever said to me (though I don't remember whether or not we laughed). That was our last class. Maybe I saw him in the hallway or something a couple of times after that; I don't recall. For the next ten years until I moved out of state, I would look in every record store hoping to find a copy of his Folkways LP so I could drive out to DeKalb, say hello, and have him sign it. I never found a copy, and never drove to DeKalb to say hello. Years later, living in Los Angeles, I bought it online - Lucien Stryk: Selected Poems Less than a year ago, before moving out of California, I walked through Pershing Square in downtown Los Angeles and contemplated his reading of his "Christ of Pershing Square." Those who have read it know what a great writer he was; those who have heard him read it (or anything) - in person or on the Folkways record - know what a fantastic voice he had. But upon just now learning of his death, these great talents are not what first came to my mind. What I first thought of was how personable he was, & funny he was - and how in the brief time we knew each other he used that humor to show how well he knew me. It was a skill he showed in class a lot, using unexpected humor to demonstrate his understanding of his students and their work. This was part of another great talent- his gift for teaching. I will always be grateful to have been his student, and to have enjoyed his humor. I'm glad to have brought him some enjoyment through my writing, which he exhibited through engaged and dramatic descriptions of my poems. I knew him only a short time, but will always remember him as a great writer and teacher. And though his writing is very serious, I remember him clearly as a poet with precise timing and a grand sense of humor.