Hi, Joshua and I had a short but intense (did he have any other kind?) relationship back in the mid/late 90s, when I was in my own MFA program and working in a bookstore in Berkeley. He was a strange mixture of abrasiveness, humor, and white hot intellect, and his career was exploding (this was just after he won the Academy of American Poets thing), which was a lot to handle in my early 20s. But he used to say eventually my writing would end up somewhere and six books later it has. Your first novel had just come out and was on our featured shelf at the bookstore, and I remember him mentioning you'd gone to school together. The only confirmation I've seen that he passed has been texts from a friend and a couple of Substacks. I can absolutely see Joshua not wanting Davis to publish an official obituary! But it all feels very surreal. Anyway, appreciated this newsletter.
I went to high school with him. His sister was a huge Deadhead. I think he just drank it with the water. He was who he was even then and yet became, deservedly, so much more. I’m noticing how many people hadn’t been in much touch with him in a while. I’d spoken to him maybe three times in the last 30 years. I’m thinking, hoping, it’s because there were so many people in his life. I have been stunned all day by his goneness.
I am crying as I'm typing this. Something I've been doing a lot lately. Joshua Clover. I will remember him as a teacher, a student, a friend. A poet. Your tribute made me cry too, Elizabeth. Very beautifully written.
I didn't know him as well as you, but I do know that gesture when he suddenly laughed & his upper body folded into his arms for a moment while he said something sharp -- I can see him do this. When I met him in 96 he ran every morning. He made so many friends without being a people pleaser.
It can be so difficult to explain, sometimes, the loss of such a friend of such long history. But we mourn them at least as much as we mourn those we are related to, sometimes more.
Oh! those friends we made when we were not yet who we became, they're so very dear.
I only met him once, at the final Writers@Work, where he won the big fellowship (of course). Such a titanic loss ... I'm sorry for your loss, for those who loved him, for those of us who read him.
So beautiful. Thank you for writing this. I knew him briefly as a student, and he impressed me so much just on visiting day at UC Davis. He will be missed.
I knew Joshua a little bit. The first time I met him we were in Brenda Hillman's black convertible, going to an Alice Notley reading in San Francisco circa 1996. "He used contempt as a rhetorical device." That made me laugh. Your tribute is beautiful, different than the others I've read. I loved his poem "Longterm Capital Management." If I'm remembering correctly.
What a beautiful tribute to your friend, Elizabeth, whom you’ve so marvelously made vivid. I’m sorry for this loss of yours.
Thank you so much, dear Benjamin.
Hi, Joshua and I had a short but intense (did he have any other kind?) relationship back in the mid/late 90s, when I was in my own MFA program and working in a bookstore in Berkeley. He was a strange mixture of abrasiveness, humor, and white hot intellect, and his career was exploding (this was just after he won the Academy of American Poets thing), which was a lot to handle in my early 20s. But he used to say eventually my writing would end up somewhere and six books later it has. Your first novel had just come out and was on our featured shelf at the bookstore, and I remember him mentioning you'd gone to school together. The only confirmation I've seen that he passed has been texts from a friend and a couple of Substacks. I can absolutely see Joshua not wanting Davis to publish an official obituary! But it all feels very surreal. Anyway, appreciated this newsletter.
I went to high school with him. His sister was a huge Deadhead. I think he just drank it with the water. He was who he was even then and yet became, deservedly, so much more. I’m noticing how many people hadn’t been in much touch with him in a while. I’d spoken to him maybe three times in the last 30 years. I’m thinking, hoping, it’s because there were so many people in his life. I have been stunned all day by his goneness.
I am crying as I'm typing this. Something I've been doing a lot lately. Joshua Clover. I will remember him as a teacher, a student, a friend. A poet. Your tribute made me cry too, Elizabeth. Very beautifully written.
Irreplaceable. Sending big love to you, Deb.
This is a gorgeous tribute. I can conjure him from your words.
Ohhh this was beautiful.
(Pretty sure Frank Conroy knew who you were.)
I'm pretty sure he did too.
Thanks for sharing this, Deb. I’m in awe.
I loved reading this and could’ve read pages and pages more. I’m so glad you had him for the time you did.
Aw, thank you so much, Alice.
I didn't know him as well as you, but I do know that gesture when he suddenly laughed & his upper body folded into his arms for a moment while he said something sharp -- I can see him do this. When I met him in 96 he ran every morning. He made so many friends without being a people pleaser.
What a beautiful piece.
It can be so difficult to explain, sometimes, the loss of such a friend of such long history. But we mourn them at least as much as we mourn those we are related to, sometimes more.
Hoping you can always hear his voice.
Oh! those friends we made when we were not yet who we became, they're so very dear.
I only met him once, at the final Writers@Work, where he won the big fellowship (of course). Such a titanic loss ... I'm sorry for your loss, for those who loved him, for those of us who read him.
This is such a lovely tribute. I wish you––and all those who knew Joshua––peace amidst the loss.
Christ, now I’m weeping in a parking lot. Beautiful, Elizabeth. Sending love to you & all who knew him.
Thank you so much, Vincent.
So beautiful. Thank you for writing this. I knew him briefly as a student, and he impressed me so much just on visiting day at UC Davis. He will be missed.
I knew Joshua a little bit. The first time I met him we were in Brenda Hillman's black convertible, going to an Alice Notley reading in San Francisco circa 1996. "He used contempt as a rhetorical device." That made me laugh. Your tribute is beautiful, different than the others I've read. I loved his poem "Longterm Capital Management." If I'm remembering correctly.
So beautiful and painful and complicated and such an homage to true friendship. And reading it made me miss Joshua. And you, too. ❤️
Dear Michael! I miss you, too.
Beautiful tribute, thank you