So much time has passed and yet it seems like yesterday when Andrew Woolf left this place to go into another dimension. I remember receiving a call from a colleague of his at NECC--saying that just before class he had fallen down outside the teachers' lounge and that someone had given CPR and the EMT's had said there was no pulse--but they "brought him back" and were headed to the hospital. A second call a bit later brought the news that the ambulance on its way to Lahey in
Burlington had had to turn back because his heart beat was erratic--and that he was being transferred by helicopter ---how suitable I thought--given his love for climbing mountains and "being up high, looking down on the earth below"!

Working just a half mile from MV Hospital, I walked out of the office and stood by the river--a 'copter went over the Merrimack River and I waved --hello I thought--surely not goodbye!

It was not until Sunday morning that I heard the news--that he was DOA at Lahey--a heart attack they said--I have never believed that--for reasons I cannot explain I believe it was an aneurysm --& given the fact that once wrote a poem about "becoming the state"s property"--and had alluded to "being like the dragonfly who dies twice"--my feeling is that he was more than a little prescient--as regards his own future/demise.

Andrew Woolf has been eulogized and memorialized by many--but so much of the recognition has to do with his musical abilities, sense of humor and zest for living life to the fullest.    My take? He was an unusually complicated and complex individual--charismatic beyond any articulation......Fascinating human being --and somewhat of a troubled soul who endeavored to hide pain behind a carefully crafted social mask. ... He clearly did not want the world to know the deep level of his vulnerability.....he had a great capacity for love and spoke of how hard "old love is".    One must be of a similar nature/persona to understand.
His love of "language poetry" defied comprehension to most "conventional" poets.....but one of a like mind could relate to it/him.

A note of deep appreciation to this wonderful man for all that he did to encourage and mentor this person's desire to write--to develop into a true poet, to "not waste anymore time" dreaming about 'the poem' and just "get it out there on the page--into the world".

Andy, you changed my life in more ways than anyone else in the world--you will never be forgotten--never "not loved"....

Always,

mj