Bayla Winters

I just found out that my first formal poetry teacher has passed on. Bayla Winters apparently died 3 years ago, and I just, quiet serendipitously, found out. We were not close; I called her about every 10 years or so, after I left the Los Angeles area, and she didn't seem to be a 'computer person'. But I studied with her for a couple of years, first in formal classes, then in a private poetry workshop. She taught me much about art; the art of poetry and the art of living as a poet (this at a time when I still wanted to be a 'Stephen King'!). So that is to say, I learned a great deal from her. She was already working on this poem 'JANICE JOPLIN AND THE FOLDING COMPANY' when I first met her in 1972. In fact, she had volumes of handwritten notes on it. And as far as I know, this could be only one stanza in a long poem. But this one was published in Free Lunch. I ONLY present it here in her memory. (Hey, Janis, pour Bayla one, will ya?)