David Fisher

A beautiful writer and wonderful friend from his days on Fulton Street in SF during the seventies.

I've been slowly rereading I Hear Always the Dogs on the Hospital Roof and it's a beautiful, heart-rending book that stands and will stand, I believe, the test of time.

Colleague, collaborator, friend and always a teacher. Among our adventures, we co-ran the Folsom Prison Creative Writing Workshop, with poet Max Schwartz, throughout 1976. I still remember afternoons when we would watch from his apartment on Alamo Square the fog pouring in from the West. His passing is a loss. He is missed.

I learned of David's death through Duke's alumni publication. I am saddened that I lost touch with him years ago. We were friends at Duke, where he wrote book reviews and columns for me when I edited the Chronicle. Then he and Gil Ravenel and I spent a couple of months hitchhiking in Europe in 1964. The last time I saw him was when he visited me in Chapel Hill when I was in graduate school in the mid '60's. David was a brilliant thinker who displayed an admirable zest for life and for poetry....

I'm very sorry to discover that David has been gone for over a year. I always hoped to have a chance to thank him again. In about 1980 he helped me save my life. His poetry was an inspiration to me, and he was a person of great sensitivity and integrity. My sorrow and deep, if belated, sympathy to his family.

Gail Entrekin

David and I were friends at Duke, but then afterward I completely lost touch with him -- although at some point I did discover that he had fallen ill but was also recognized as a distinguished poet. I think I may have the honor of being David's first editor. David shared some of his verse with me, and I knew that he was a good poet, but he was quite private about it, and did not seek publication on campus. When I was editor of the student literary magazine, The Archive, I twisted his arm...

I knew David throughout the seventies and used to drop by his place on Fulton many mornings for wonderful discussions about poetry people and politics. His love was steadfast, his eye keen and his heart totally dependable. The humor and grace in his poetry are wonderful gifts, especially triumphing over his struggles and griefs.

I knew and loved David Fisher as a young girl, and remained his friend for over 40 years. Throughout his intense struggles, he remained brilliant and loving, and his poetry is among the best contemporary American poetry. I will miss him.