Poetic Obituaries: As a poet his fans included William Burroughs,

Gus Van Sant, Katherine Dunn as well as Kesey who met Marty [Christensen] circa 1972 at a poetry reading downtown at Fool's Paradise, a dank, dungeonly off-Burnside dive where the Mexican bartender suffered a speech impediment to two languages and where performers including "the world's tallest midget" Bob Dylan look-a-like Corky Hubbard performed songs like "So Sorry I Came on Your Dress" and "Sleep with One Eye Open, Moshe Dayan." One night Kesey came into the tavern with Prankster second-in-command Ken Babbs. They set up an applause-o-meter in the back of the gloomy beer mill as Marty was reading from a portfolio of poems.

from Willamette Week: The Lost Poet: Remembering Marty Christensen
then Oregon ArtsWatch: 'My Flashlight Was Attacked by Bats': Farewell to poet Marty Christensen

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