Hazardous Duty

I've seen and heard a couple of stories recently on the relatively short life spans of poets. This reminds me of the parlor game Dr. Omed & I like to play: listing all the writers we can think of who killed themselves.

Limiting it for the moment to 20th C Americans, there's Hemingway (who wrote some pretty bad poetry), Plath, Anne Sexton, and Fitzgerald (via drink). I believe there's a lot more, but those are all the names I can think of at the moment.

On the other hand, poetry might be less risky than construction work. Doubt I'm going to end up with 6 pens or pencils driven into my head and neck any time soon.

Actually, that short life-span thing seems like pretty hopeful news to me. My retirement plan consists of dying at age 65.