Robert Boates (born 1954 in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada) is a Canadian

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...

. In 1989 he suffered a

head injury A head injury is any injury that results in trauma to the skull or brain. The terms ''traumatic brain injury'' and ''head injury'' are often used interchangeably in the medical literature. Because head injuries cover such a broad scope of inju ...

which caused brain trauma, damaging the

language center In neuroscience and psychology, the term language center refers collectively to the areas of the brain which serve a particular function for speech processing and production. Language is a core system that gives humans the capacity to solve diff ...

of his

brain The brain is an organ (biology), organ that serves as the center of the nervous system in all vertebrate and most invertebrate animals. It consists of nervous tissue and is typically located in the head (cephalization), usually near organs for ...

. His poetry, which is clear, erudite, well-crafted, intelligent, and economical, "provides a literary voice for survivors of brain trauma, documenting his passage in a second life." In 2006 he published '' He Carries Fear'' with Cactus Tree Press. His style, in its contemporariness-without-ornament, can be reminiscent of

Larry Levis Larry Patrick Levis (September 30, 1946 – May 8, 1996) was an American poet and teacher who published five books of poetry during his lifetime. Two more volumes of previously unpublished poems appeared posthumously, and received general acclaim. ...

References

1954 births Living people Writers from Hamilton, Ontario Poets from Ontario 21st-century Canadian poets Canadian male poets 21st-century Canadian male writers {{Canada-poet-stub