Irving Layton 1912-2006

Irving Layton, Canadian poet, died today at age 93.
Richard introduced me to Irving Layton, the poet I consider a Canadian counterpart to my favourite novelist, Henry Miller. Both were underappreciated, sometimes reviled, and frequently forgotten. (They were the "dirty old men" of contempo lit, but Layton had the additonal stigma of being Jewish.) 80% of Irving's poetry isn't suitable for my PG-rated blog and that's why I admire him: He was honest and direct at a time when honesty and directness were the last things people wanted from poetry. They wanted pretty poems that inspired without getting too nasty, too uncomfortably true.
Once, when Richard told a librarian he was looking for Irving Layton books, she snorted and replied, "God, why?"
So, if you've never heard of the dude, I highly recommend (at the very least) reading this brief article from the CBC: http://www.cbc.ca/story/arts/national/2006/01/04/Layton-Obit.html. It has some timeless quotes from Layton (and shows quite a lot of his overblown ego too - but what poet doesn't have that problem?).