RIP Jack McCarthy, storytelling poet extraordinaire.

I was blessed with seeing and hearing two fine storytelling poets in my lifetime--the late Jack Shafer and the just-departed-today Jack McCarthy.

Jack was a legend in the slam poetry community, or to be more accurate, to anyone (poet and nonpoet alike) who experienced him onstage-and-off.

He was kind and gracious to me in late 2006 when I came to Seattle (he and his wife Carol lived in Washington in recent years) to do a couple of featured readings.  I was also glad to go with him to one of his features in the area, plus a Seattle Slam reading.

My all-time favorite Jack McCarthy poem is "The Walk of Life"; here's the link: http://www.standupoet.net/Poems/Walk_of_Life.htm

Here's video of Jack's poem "An Evening of Television":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50n5HHnakAE