Bill Holm / Star Tribune photo by Richard Tsong-Taatarii
By Rohan Preston
The spirit of Bill Holm, the Minnesota-bred poet, musician and teacher who died at 65 on February 25, was brought to life Monday at Plymouth Congregational Church in Minneapolis. A constellation of literary lights gathered to pay homage to Holm, the bear of a man who wrote with wonderment, joy and a cut-to-the-quick wit about the everything from box-elder bugs to the wanderlust that took him to Iceland and Madagascar. Tribute-payers included Minnesota poet laureate Robert Bly, Holm's widow Marcella Brekken and poets Phebe Hanson, Freya Manfred, Jim Heynen and Jim Lenfestey, who organized and curated the event. Holm believed that "the heart can be filled anywhere on earth," said Emilie Buchwald, his longtime editor and publisher. Buchwald, who founded Milkweed Editions, said he was not adept at everything. She recalled that once, as his editor, she wanted him to change a piece of writing. He resisted. "He said, 'Emilie, you ponder [that].' 'I said, no, Bill, you just can't write sex scenes.'"
