Poetic Obituaries: [Alfred Arteaga] was a prolific poet

who conjured up philosopher kings in postcolonial America, ensnaring both his characters and their landscape in the web that he called the "fabric of language," the statement said.

Professor Arteaga received many awards for his literary achievements, including the PEN Oakland/Josephine Miles Award for literary excellence in 1998 for "House With the Blue Bed," and a National Endowment for the Arts creative writing fellowship in poetry in 1995.

His poem, "Illumination Mine," reads in part:

from San Francisco Chronicle: Professor Alfred Arteaga, prolific poet, dies

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