Myra Weisberg Sklarew

Myra was my advisor at The American University. I took her poetry and translation classes. She made us buy The New Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics (1400 pages). She was tough, a stickler for exactitude of expression. She was tougher on herself. She ended up being a treasured friend. She had stories to tell about writers she had met from Jamaica Kincaid, to William Stafford, to Charles Bukowski (hilarious). She was a walking, talking example of an ideal human. I don't think it's...

I am one among Myra´s 10,000 students. Only today did discover that she had left us. She was my writing teacher nearly 50 years ago. She introduced me to many writers I had no idea existed. She was patient and calm with me and so many others. Hers was a remarkable life. I´m a better person and possibly a better writer because her life touched mine.

My cousin, Myra, was a wonderful, warm-hearted person. It was a privilege to have known her, and to be related to her. She was a meticulous historian of our family, and a scholar on 20th-century Lithuanian Jewry, traveling there many times to research the community's history. I enjoyed our conversations, and remember her constant kindness fondly.

I remember a very kind and gentle woman who was the mother of childhood friends Debbie and Eric. She put up with our noise, fed us snacks and was a quiet influence on me. Rest in peace.

I was lucky enough to publish two of her wonderful poems "Twenty-four Hours" and "Insomnia " in the very first issue of my poetry journal Visions. And also to read some of my poems for her at AU. A great lady, A great loss.

Here is Myra's response to an email I sent to her back in 2003 to honor her work as well as celebrate the 74th birthday of Anne Frank: Dear Elisabeth, Thank you. I wonder what Anne Frank would be doing now if she had lived. What do you think? I only wish I knew the answers for how we should live now. The struggle to be human goes on. Sometimes I think if we could live for awhile with those who were courageous enough to rescue others, we would learn the most. I have met with some of these...

To the family and friends of Myra, I got to know Myra in the late 1980s at AU while teaching a nutrition class for faculty and staff. We slowly became friends outside of the class and met up for tea to talk about our work and family. I hold those conversations so dear; before retiring she gifted me a small teapot that I actually still have fall these years later as a remembrance of the values we shared. I actually loved her smile and can still remember her laugh. I feel fortunate to have been...

Myra was a great poet and a great person.