Rachel Todd Wetzsteon Biography
Rachel Todd Wetzsteon (November 25, 1967 - December 24/25?, 2009) was an American poet.
Born in New York City, New York, the daughter of editor Ross Wetzsteon (the name is pronounced "whetstone"), she graduated from Yale University in 1989 where she studied with Marie Borroff and John Hollander. She graduated from Johns Hopkins University with an MA, and from Columbia University with a Ph.D. She taught at Barnard College.
She lived in Manhattan and went on to teach at William Paterson University and the Unterberg Poetry Center of the Ninety-Second Street Y.
Her work appeared in many publications including The New Yorker, The Paris Review, The New Republic, The Nation, and The Village Voice. She was poetry editor of The New Republic.
She took her own life[how?] on Christmas Day or Eve, 2009. Since 2010, a writing prize has been offered in her memory in the Columbia University English Department.
Meanwhile, meanwhile used to be my limp's
accompaniment. Meanwhile (as my legs
maneuvered an abyss), a ballet is
...
On sullen nights like these
when my spirit counts its woes like pearls on a string,
you bring me armfuls of spare pantsuits
...
If walking, like wine, only abets a sad mood
let's try it, I said, and I did:
over these hills that have never known sorrow
...
I hate the travel logs that tell you
more about the pain than the place,
yet here I am again, narrating
...
When the wind invades the treetops
and the trees agree, shivering
take me, take me, when their
...
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