David Bromige, 1933 -- 2009

Former Vancouverite, influential poet dies in Santa Rosa, CA after a lengthy illness

2009.06.08 — David Bromige, whose book Ten Years In the Making was published in 1973 by New Star Books, died on June 3 in Santa Clara, CA, where he lived for many years.

Born in London, UK, Bromige moved to Canada as a teenager, studied and later taught at University of BC before moving to California. His work has been published in Canada, the USA, and the UK, and has influenced a generation of "avant garde"" poets, although his own work is often funny and not recondite in the least.

In the foreword to Ten Years in the Making, Bromige writes:

""I was born in London, went to Saskatchewan at fourteen, & although I twice returned to England, I could never abide there long, so that Canada was my home for some ten years until, in 1962, having received the BA from UBC, I went to Berkeley to do graduate work. --- Or better, my homes were in Canada: North Battleford for two years, Windsor for a summer, Edmonton for a winter, Vancouver for the rest. In 1964 my wife & I returned, to settle in Deep Cove, were our son was born that spring. I taught at UBC that summer but ever since, jobs have been more available south of the border & that's where I've spent most of the past seven years. I'm a Canadian citizen still & want the poetry to be considered Canadian as much as it is American --- or English.""

A NOTICE about Bromige appeared in the Santa Clara PressDemocrat on June 4. "