Ai: 1947-2010

The poet Ai has died of pneumonia related to undiagnosed cancer.  She was 62 and lived in Stillwater, OK.  She was a winner of the National Book Award and her poetry was widely anthologized.  She was on the English faculty at Oklahoma State University.

She was born Florence Anthony in Albany, TX and once described herself as "the child of a scandalous affair my mother had with a Japanese man she met at a streetcar stop.”  As an adult, she changed her name to Ai, which is Japanese for love. 

The New York Times, as it often does, de-gayed her in its obituary.  You can read some of her poetry here.