As I posted on this blog last week, Brian Love, a longtime SPLAB volunteer and all-around handyman, was killed by a drunk driver on July 5th. The man accused of the crime, Floyd Gonzales, will be arraigned on the 22nd. Brian Whale writes in the Auburn Reporter of the criminal record of Gonzales:
According to court papers, Gonzalez is a convicted felon, who was sentenced to more than 10 years in Thurston County for assault 2 and kidnapping 1 in 2001. He was released last December but is on active community custody for those crimes.
Among his juvenile convictions are escape 1 (Grant County, Nov. 2000), assault 3 (Grays Harbor, 1999), vehicle prowl-robbery 1 (Grays Harbor, 1999), assault 4 (1996 and 1998), theft 2 (1997) residential burglary (1997), two counts of vehicle prowl (1997), two counts of theft (1996) and using a cellphone while driving (April 2013).
You can read Robert’s hard news piece here: http://www.auburn-reporter.com/news/215001881.html
& his more lifestyle piece, including a quote from me, here: http://www.auburn-reporter.com/news/214987231.html
As if the story were not sad enough, Brian’s earthly remains are in limbo because all those close to him are not blood relatives and lack the financial means to hire attorneys to fight to have the body released to his fiancee.
I have written two elegies for Brian: http://paulenelson.com/2013/07/06/elegy-for-brian-love/
& http://paulenelson.com/2013/07/07/90-slow-down-tahoe-driver-for-brian-love/
Auburn is fortunate to have such a good local paper and a remarkable, dedicated reporter like Robert Whale who always works hard to get the story right.
New item:
Memorial Services for Brian Love
Wednesday July 17
1:00 p.m.
Auburn Adventist Academy Church
5000 Auburn Way South
Auburn WA 98092
Share Stories and celebrate his life there will be a pot luck afterwards at the RAINBOW CAFE, Downtown Auburn, 112 E. Main St. 98002
Also, his sister Karen Bruton has been made aware of Brian’s death and sent this:
Yes, I will be claiming his body and organizing a memorial. I will be flying in later today to start the wheels in motion. Feel free to contact me while I’m there if you have any questions or concerns.
About Splabman
Poet & interviewer Paul E Nelson founded SPLAB (Seattle Poetics LAB) & the Cascadia Poetry Festival. Since 1993, SPLAB has produced hundreds of poetry events & 600 hours of interview programming with legendary poets & whole systems activists including Allen Ginsberg, Michael McClure, Joanne Kyger, Robin Blaser, Diane di Prima, Daphne Marlatt, Nate Mackey, George Bowering, Barry McKinnon, José Kozer, Brenda Hillman & many others. Paul’s books include American Prophets (interviews 1994-2012) (2018) American Sentences (2015) A Time Before Slaughter (2009) and Organic in Cascadia: A Sequence of Energies (2013). Co-Editor of Make It True: Poetry From Cascadia (2015), 56 Days of August: Poetry Postcards (2017) and Samthology: A Tribute to Sam Hamill (2019) Make it True meets Medusario (2019), he’s presented poetry/poetics in London, Brussels, Nanaimo, Qinghai & Beijing, China, has had work translated into Spanish, Chinese & Portuguese & writes an American Sentence every day. Awarded a residency at The Lake, from the Morris Graves Foundation in Loleta, CA, he’s published work in Golden Handcuffs Review, Zen Monster, Hambone, and elsewhere. Winner of the 2014 Robin Blaser Award from The Capilano Review, he is engaged in a 20 year bioregional cultural investigation of Cascadia and lives in Rainier Beach, in the Cascadia bioregion’s Cedar River watershed.
I received a positive response from the WSDOT rep for those DUI signs. You know the ones: ‘Don’t Drink and Drive in Memory of…’
I’ve put Pete Lewis, the WSDOT rep, and the person who handles this for the city of Auburn all together on this. I’ve requested one of these signs be placed at the corner of Auburn Way and Main Street. I’ve asked it be done before the Auburn Days parade on August 10. The city DOES have a contract with the state to provide these signs when necessary.
His remains are no longer in limbo. I am his sister and will be taking over possession. He will be in good hands.
Would it be possible for some who has the program from Brian’s memorial to post the poem that was inside, by Tagore?
I do not have a program but I did read a copy of one and have been looking for the poem ever since.
Many thanks in advance. <3