Poetic Obituaries: [Paul Violi's] elegiac or lyrical flights

almost inevitably took a sudden absurdist turn, while his most far-fetched conceits could lead to passages of tender description or lyric bursts. In the short poem "Tanka," for example, he moved abruptly from haiku mode to ransom note:

Where the blossoms fall
like snow on the dock
bring fifty thousand in cash
or you'll never see your baby again.

David Lehman, explaining his choice of two poems by Mr. Violi for inclusion in "The Oxford Book of American Poetry," singled out "his wit, his ability to find the poetic resonance of nonpoetic language, his deadpan and his ability to get serious ideas across without didactic earnestness."

from The New York Times: Paul Violi, a Poet Both Wry and Sly, Dies at 66

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