Hal Sirowitz, "a onetime poet laureate of Queens who mined his suffocating relationship with his overprotective mother to create mordant reminiscences that were both highly personal and universal, and that made him a standout at New York City poetry slams," died October 17, the New York Times reported. He was 76. Sirowitz published five books of poetry: Mother Said (1996); My Therapist Said (1998); Father Said (2000); Before, During, and After (2003); and Stray Cat Blues (2012).
A special-education teacher at a public elementary school in Queens, Sirowitz spent his nights performing at venues like the Nuyorican Poets Cafe in Manhattan's East Village, the Times noted. He also appeared on MTV and on the PBS series The United States of Poetry. Garrison Keillor often read his poems on The Writer's Almanac. He was named poet laureate of Queens in the early 2000s by the borough president.
Often using his difficult childhood for both lyricism and laughs, Sirowitz was, as his longtime friend, the poet Bob Holman, said in an interview, "a poet of the particular." In an interview with the Times, Sirowitz said, "The highest compliment I get is when people say to me, 'We must've had the same mother.' " From his poem "Crumbs":
Don't eat any more food in your room,
Mother said. You'll get more bugs.
They depend on people like you.
Otherwise, they would starve.
But who do you want to make happy,
your mother or a bunch of ants?
His poems were translated into several languages, "and he gained particular attention in Norway, where a group of budding filmmakers made a short animated film based on one of his works," the Times wrote.
"I became a performance poet even though I was a stutterer and had other speech issues that I had to overcome," Sirowitz told the Schuylkill Valley Journal. "I use silence--those pauses--as an advantage. I draw out the humor in my poems."