The Brooklyn Rail

I met John Domini only once, over forty years ago in Corvallis when I interviewed for a job there. John was on my welcoming committee and I remember he had deep thoughts about literature and poetry—especially my own, which he found, he said, “cannily political without abandoning lyric beauty.” What a man for noble regard! I’ve loved him ever since. We kept in loose touch via email over the years, then through Facebook once it became a “thang,” and I loved reading his posts of travel, especially to his beloved Naples. He wrote me frequently in recent years, urging me to visit there, sending me long, narrative itineraries and descriptions. I read his books, of course, devouring them like the Neapolitan foods he celebrated. Finally, via Facebook Messenger, he introduced me to new friends—in Paris, Venice, and…. Our last correspondences, just weeks before he passed, were about the island of Ischia, where he urged me to visit this spring. He was a warm friend through these modern missives and I feel the great loss of his generous presence. Me ke aloha…