Herb Sundvall 1935-2013

Yesterday, in Italy, I received news of Herb Sundvall’s passing.  Herb was a dear friend and an accomplished poet.  He was one of Rick’s closest friends.  They met regularly at the Urban Bakery at Green Lake, not far from Herb’s home.  Over a cup of coffee, they shared their poetry, discussed all the details that make life complicated and precious, talked about the latest poets and poems they were discovering.  Last evening, shortly after hearing the news, I stepped out onto the piazza here in in Castiglione del Lago and, suddenly, the church bells began to ring, clanging deafeningly, again and again, for what seemed like an eternity!  It was unusual and I noticed many people gathering in the piazza, heads up, looking at the bell tower, wondering which holy day it was.  The hotel manager, Massimo, told me this morning that it was not a Catholic holy day (though it is Rosh Hashana!).  He explained that the eccentric town priest sometimes gets it in his head to go crazy with the church bells!

Boisterous ancient church bells ringing in the piazza, on and on, filling our heads, vibrating throughout the town, echoing off the mountains:  a fitting homage for our dear friend, Herb!

-A Hole in the Life-

A hole in the life of the living,
left when a loved one leaves
sometimes takes days,
months, forever
to fill in
as we continue
to think
about
talk to
write letters in our heads,
look for email
find books to send
remember things to say
mark the passing on calendars
ignoring all advice
to move along with the living
because no one enters our lives
and leaves at death.

We are joined together forever.

© Herb Sundvall

Empty

    for Sonja

His chair it was

where he sat for years

meeting, reading, drinking tea

until towards the end

he had to be helped

in and out.

After he left us

the chair remained in place

no one daring to disturb its emptiness

until little Wilfred

climbed into it

and sat back, arms on rests,

as he had

and laughed.

And so then

we all took turns

and it became

the seat for guests and a little boy.

Herbert Sundvall 2010

Every year around the holidays, Herb gifted us with one of his latest chap books called Crow Tracks.  The last time I saw Herb was a few weeks ago at the Urban Bakery.  I heard he had had some health complications and joined Rick and Herb for one of their precious coffee gatherings.  That day, Rick told Herb he is going to gather the best of Crow Tracks and publish Herb’s work.  Herb was beaming!  What a beautiful book that will be!

Herb was very inspirational to me.  He was an avid reader of my blog posts and he often wrote comments or sent me individual emails with positive comments on my writing.  He often urged me to write MORE and to publish my stories.  I will make more effort to live up to Herb’s guidance.

My goodness!  What a quick exit you have made, Herb!  Writing this blog today seems to me an empty action, knowing you will not read it!

You can read more poems written by Herb on his blog (LINK).  And, a while back, I wrote a blog entry titled Mirrors (LINK) in which I included Herb’s poem of the same title.   Herb’s voice, his unique vision, and singular way of expression live on through his poetry.