Gone and Missed (Roger Blakely III)

My great friend Roger Blakely III died a year ago in a bizarre tragedy on the freeway near Albany, Oregon. Attempting to cross the road on foot, he was struck by a southbound car and died at the scene.

Roger was coming home to Portland after spending a few years in California where he attended college, first at a JC in the Los Angeles area, then at Humboldt State on the northern coast. Though born and raised in SoCal, he loved Oregon, particularly Portland, having lived here for a decade before beginning his studies in California.

Roger was a gifted man, though sometimes he was unaware of that, inasmuch as he could put himself down with the best of us. He got too much into the drink at times as well, like many a soulful person, but he was a loving man even when he occasionally crossed his pals.

Around 2005 I was taking classes at Portland State and I'd written a poem that I thought might have something to it. I showed it to Roger, who really seemed to understand it and praised it with his usual dry reserve. The poem is called "Cello Music," and it is actually about a beautiful woman I know, but one might say it is also about beauty in general.

It was fitting that Roger "got" the poem, for he once trained on the instrument and loved the cello sound. The inherently beauteous sound that a great artist can draw from the cello.

When he lived in Arcata in northern California he once wrote and requested that I send him "Cello Music." I guess he had lost the copy I'd given him years before.

He remembered the poem.

Last month I published a book of my poetry here at Round Bend Press--"Cello Music & Other Poems." I dedicated the book to Roger.

Sadly, that is all I could do for him in the end. All his friends in Portland miss him terribly.

Terence and I raised a toast to his memory just this last weekend.

TS