Paul Stevens, who created and sustained the entirely original online poetry journals, The Shit Creek Review, The Chimaera, and The Flea, died peacefully yesterday in the presence of his family.
Unaware of this, I was up most of last night. I’d asked Patricia Wallace Jones the day before about whether I could use the two illustrations she did for two of my sonnets in The Chimaera and The Shit Creek Review for my forthcoming book. She’d said that would be fine, and she was sure Paul wouldn’t mind. I’d told her I was interested in having more of her illustrations in my book, and last night we discussed this at some length.
Paul was born in Sheffield, Yorkshire, but lived in Australia for most of his life. He was a teacher, a poet, and a free spirit.
I’ve written a four-liner for him that will introduce the penultimate section in my forthcoming collection:
It’s no surprise, yet still a shock
that you, my friend, have passed away.
You taught me how to turn the clock
around: each night it’s someone’s day.
To think of all the people Paul has introduced to each other!