Tributes to Gail Mazur

Introduction by Lloyd Schwartz

In Gail Mazur’s poem “Blue Umbrella,” an artist of delicate constructions named Kai not only fixes the broken cap on a special umbrella, a gift from Gail’s daughter, but with extraordinary thoughtfulness, holding out “the deft hand of friendship,” carves not one but two “perfect” replacements:

one for now, one for the future, when he knows
in his heart I’ll need another (don’t things
always break?)—And won’t we two be far apart?

As a poet who also founded a reading series (the Blacksmith House Poetry Series, which she directed for twenty-nine years), Gail Mazur knows how to treat artists—with respect, empathy, consideration, imagination. Poets have recognized this; and here, four of them—with the deft hand of friendship, and with respect, empathy, consideration, and imagination—return the favor. Their tributes are the best kind, offering an insight rare in criticism, partly because it is also an expression of love.