I just sent out the Spring 2024 issue of The Robert Lax Newsletter, a free quarterly publication with news about Lax-related events, articles, quotes, and images. This issue of the newsletter includes a feature article about Lax in winter, news about my forthcoming book on solitude, a YouTube video featuring author Steve Georgiou talking about his friendship with Lax, numerous images of Lax poems and publications, a hilarious Reddit string about a Lax poem, and many other delights.
Here’s a brief excerpt from the feature article on Lax in winter:
Two months have passed since I returned from my two weeks in Lax’s old house on Patmos, and I’m still thinking about what it was like for him living there in winter and then spring. In many ways, winter is the most beautiful time of the year on Patmos, especially when the sun is out. The fields are green, the wind whips the waves into beautiful patterns, and the island is quiet, with none of the hecticness that comes with the summer tourists.
But the wind is ever-present too, and it can be fierce. Lax’s house, like most on Patmos, is mostly concrete and holds the moisture as well as the cold. When I visited him in winter, he was usually wearing long underwear and a knit cap, and he spent much of his time on his bed, often with blankets over him. His only contact with the world beyond the grocery store, the post office, and a neighbor or two, was the half-hour each night he listened to news from the BBC...
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