LARAMIE, Wyo. — Friends, family and colleagues paid their respects Wednesday to an award-winning poet and University of Wyoming professor who went missing in April while hiking in Japan.
They remembered Craig Arnold, 41, as a lover not only of words, but of travel, food and wine.
Arnold went missing April 26 while hiking on a volcano on a remote Japanese island. Relatives kept up a search for him for weeks before finally giving up any hope of finding him alive.
More than 100 people gathered at the University of Wyoming Art Museum on Wednesday to listen to readings of Arnold's work and hear stories from his life.
Peter Parolin, chairman of the UW English Department, recalled how Arnold was a "complicated man" who nonetheless "lived abundantly and well."
"Brilliant? Absolutely. Independent? Ornery? Sometimes," Parolin said. "I can still see him when I'd be talking in department meetings, contorting his long body into paroxysms of disagreement."
The same passion Arnold channeled into poetry and promotion of the art.
"He was public, he was a performer, he burst on our Laramie scene and instituted those amazing poetry slams," Parolin said. "How many high school kids had the courage to stand up and declare themselves poets under Craig's auspices? He gave those young people a gift."
English professor Janice Harris recounted a dinner party Arnold hosted at his apartment — how the warmth of his friendship and delicious eggplant caponata helped seal out the bitter Laramie cold that night.
"We will miss you, Craig, as a poet, as a cook, as a friend," she concluded.
Poetry read at the memorial included Arnold's work "Made Flesh":
"Then, then we feel death
"As the deepest coming then we ease unhurried
"Into the bud of body then we learn
"Little by little to relinquish
"Gracefully and less afraid
"Each time to let each other slip
"Slowly out of our clasp made
"Fire, made flower, made flesh."
Arnold published two award-winning collections of poetry, "Shells" in 1999 and "Made Flesh" last year.
Survivors include his 15-year-old son, Robin, parents John and Judy Arnold, brother Chris Arnold, and longtime girlfriend Rebecca Lindenberg.