Bin Ramke

Today, I read that Knopf has released a collection of poems by Wallace Stevens. I had read some of Stevens’ poetry in college, but a professor in grad school, Bin Ramke, made Stevens more accessible to me, but it wasn’t easy.

When I met Bin in ’81, he seemed this gentle very humble person. In class though, he really stretched us with his energetic demeanor and passion for the subject of Literature. He asked us a great deal of questions about what we read. His classes were very lively and rich. After class, I always had this great feeling of energy, wanting more. He showed me how to read critically, after first reading closely. His patience made Wallace Stevens’ poetry come alive and I could sense how much he enjoyed Stevens, someone who I had found rather obscure and difficult at times.

Today, found a copy of my Wallace Stevens collection of essays called “Necessary Angel" from Bin’s class in ’81…then I found one of Bin’s poetry books “White Monkeys”…yes, in addition to being a great teacher, he’s a published poet as well. I researched and found he teaches in Denver, so I email’d him hello…