David Bromige

David Bromige’s bold and experimental poetry won him multiple literary honors and the respect of readers around the world. But the retired Sonoma State University professor and former Sonoma County Poet Laureate, who died June 3 at home in Sebastopol at the age of 75, will be remembered by those who knew and loved him for his rapier wit and generous support of other writers.

“I am happy to say that in the last week of his life his family was reading to him my new memoir and he was laughing at my jokes. He never missed a joke,” said former SSU colleague and novelist Jerry Rosen.

Bromige, he praised, “knew as much about contemporary poetry as any person in the world” and managed to communicate his love for poetry to his students during 25 years at SSU.

His wife of 28 years, Cecelia Belle, said he had a large filing cabinet filled with what he labeled “Uncalled For Manuscripts.” But he gave them all an insightful read and passed along encouragement with his comments.

His prodigious gift for writing mixed with his giving spirit won him many fans. Russian River poet Pat Nolan recalled watching him at a gathering of poets five years ago, seated in the shade of a porch in his signature Panama hat.

“One by one, everyone at that gathering stepped up to pay their respects to him...But the homage that was being paid to him that day was more of that befitting a godfather.”

Bromige had fought his way back from a heart attack and stroke in 2001, going on to serve as Poet Laureate of Sonoma County, writing, mentoring other writers and giving readings. But a lifetime struggle with the effects of diabetes finally caught up with him.

Only last month, he gave his last reading in a gathering by the Healdsburg Literary Society of 16 poet laureates from around the state. The ever dapper British-born writer stood to deliver his piece, the first time he had risen from his wheelchair in many months, said Belle.

The author of more than 40 books of prose and poetry, Bromige was working on a memoir, “Til There Was You,” at the time of his death. He also was eagerly collaborating with Reality Street press in England to publish a complete collection of his poetry.

He could often be seen seated in a chair in the front yard of his Sebastopol home soaking in the sun while pounding on a manual typewriter.

Born in London, he was a childhood survivor of The Blitz of World War II. He attended agricultural college and worked on a farm in Sweden before settling into a teaching program at the University of British Columbia. But it was his poetry and playwriting that won him prizes and a graduate scholarship to UC Berkeley.

He became involved in the emergence of historic poetic movements, and was taken up by the poets known as the San Francisco Renaissance, “who valued his erudition and his abilities with form and narrative,” said fellow poet and provocative poetry blogger Ron Silliman.

Always questioning conventional wisdom in poetry and the arts, Bromige was also adopted by young writers practicing what came to be known as language poetry, said Silliman. His 1980 volume “My Poetry” is considered “a classic of the genre,” he said.

Bromige counted among his distinguished mentors Robert Duncan of the Black Mountain School of Poets and Denise Levertov, for whom he was a teaching assistant at Berkeley.

During his years at Sonoma State he helped launch and maintain the university’s literary magazines while bringing a host of internationally known writers to campus.

His numerous honors include the Western States Book Award, the Pushcart Prize for poetry, the Canada Council award and the Gertrude Stein Award for Innovative Writing. In 1994 the Luther Burbank Center for the Arts named him a Sonoma County Living Treasure.

In addition to his wife he is survived by his son Christopher Bromige, of Vancouver, B.C., his daughter Margaret Belle Bromise, of Sebastopol, two grandchildren and numerous in-laws, nieces and nephews.

Bromige will be buried at Pleasant Hills Memorial Park in Sebastopol. A public celebration of his life is being planned for sometime in July.

The family suggests memorial contributions to the Sonoma County Book Fair, socobookfest.org/donate.shtml.