Patricia Goedicke was the author of 12 books of poetry, one of which, As Earth Begins to End, was recognized by the American Library Association as one of the top ten poetry books of the year 2000. As Earth Begins to End was both her tribute to her husband, Leonard Robinson, and a searching, anguished meditation on diminution and death and what might outlast them. “Her theme here is old and enduring love, the gnawed-at bond between longtime mates that survives epic quarrels and the creeping assault of age, and embodies a transcendent eroticism,” wrote reviewer Donna Seaman in Booklist.
Her first poetry collection, Between Oceans, was published in 1968. “An unusual and startlingly original lyrical talent and much emotional force distinguish these poems,” wrote Publishers Weekly. “A remarkable first volume of poetry.” During her career, Ms. Goedicke received a National Endowment for the Arts Creative Writing Fellowship, and won the William Carlos Williams Prize for Poetry from New Letters magazine. She taught in the creative writing program at the University of Montana for 25 years. She was a profoundly engaged and insightful teacher of poetry, and has former students in all parts of the country who count her as a pivotal influence on their work and their lives. A Patricia Goedicke Scholarship Fund has been established in her honor at the University of Montana. Patricia Goedicke died of lung cancer in 2006. Even as her body became fragile and besieged, she remained utterly invested in being alive. Among the hundreds of notes, quotations, random written thoughts, plans and descriptions in her files was this note to anyone “who might get drowned in the sludge of my psychic and physical pains. Please be sure to speak of my utter joy—inexpressible—but experienced . . . walking barefoot over the grass around the house looking up at the stars and talking to the in-and-out cats in the shadows.” Before her death, Patricia completed this, her thirteenth collection of poems, The Baseball Field at Night.
