Milestones May 29, 2006

(2 of 2)

DIED. Stanley Kunitz, 100, acclaimed poet whose stark language and metaphysical bent earned him a Pulitzer Prize, a National Book Award and two terms as U.S. poet laureate; in New York City. He produced a dozen books over 75 years, culminating with last year's The Wild Braid, an homage to his lifelong passion of gardening. The longtime Columbia University professor hammered out dense, restrained gems on a manual typewriter, tackling both the personal (his father's suicide) and the universal (life, death, rebirth). "The deepest thing I know is that I am living and dying at once," he said, "and my conviction is to report that self-dialogue."

Quotes of the Day »

RAY KELLY, New York City Police Commissioner, on the arrest of a New Jersey man in one of the nation's most baffling missing-children cases, the disappearance more than three decades ago of 6-year-old Etan Patz.
For use in rail of Articles page or Section Fronts pages. Duplicate and change name as necesssary to distinguish.