ADIOS, KING: PAUL "GINGATAO" SQUIRES

Paul Squires was an Australian poet. He died on July 28, 2010. I never met him, never spoke to him on the phone, but he called me his friend and I liked to think of him as one of mine. He supported my writing more, and brought more people to my blog, than anyone outside of Maxine Clarke, another fine Australian poet. I used to dream about going to Brisbane after "Richie" became published and buying Paul a beer, but that won't happen now, if it ever could.

Enough! This is Paul's Gingatao blog, with his final posted poem. Here are some of my favorites of his. And if you look through most any of the comments on most any of the posts on this blog you will find him being generous, witty and bracingly direct. He was one of the best, and he went way too early. And he gave this beautiful, beautiful stuff away for free. What a man he was.