Bob Brill 1930 - 2024

Bob Brill died at home on February 24, 2024. Bob is survived by his wife Laura Hayes, his son Jeff Brill and wife Emma and their children Shoshana, Flora, and David.

Bob was born on December 31, 1930 In New City to Carolyn and Arthur Brill. Bob wrote his first poems and stories at about the age of six or seven. He sold his very first one for fifty cents to one of his dad’s friends and the guy made off with the only copy.

After graduation from college he knocked around Europe, wrote a novel, came back broke and became a computer programmer to support his habit of eating every day. Wondering why the novel hadn’t sold, he reread it, decided to call it a practice novel and relegated it to the landfill

He married and supported his family as a programmer while devoting his spare me to writing, playing the guitar and composing chess problems. Eventually he married again, and upon retirement he wrote several graphics programs and developed skills as an algorithmic artist. He produced a huge portfolio of math-based artwork, but in late 2003 he set all that aside to focus on achieving his lifelong ambition to be a writer. For nearly 30 years he devoted his energies to writing fiction and poetry. His novellas, short stories and around 150 poems have appeared in over forty online magazines, print journals, and anthologies.

Occasionally, he was asked how he got his ideas.

‟Early in the morning, before breakfast or any other activities, I open my journal and start writing without any thoughts or topics in mind. I just keep the pen flowing to let my unconscious mind spout whatever wants to come out. No worries about grammar, spelling, editing or even making sense. A lot of garbage comes pouring out, but often I find jewels floating in the barf. Later I work these up into poems or stories.

Writing is the hardest thing I’ve ever done, but it is extremely rewarding. I don’t write for fame or money. I just like doing it. I get pleasure when I write something I think is good. I also like it when other people enjoy my work, so I have to admit there is an element of vanity in it, but it’s the day to day joy of doing the work that sustains me.

My development as a writer has been characterized by an effort to find my own voice and for me that requires more freedom, fewer rules. I began to feel constrained by the conventionally accepted rules of fiction writing as well as tightly structured poetic forms. I started writing more free verse poetry which is less rule bound than rhymed and strictly metered poetry. I’m very fond of haiku, senryu and tanka, where the tight constraints of those forms taught me how to be concise and shine a narrow concentrated light on a single moment, a lesson that carries over into longer works. Ultimately I needed to break out into longer poems to express more complex ideas.” Hello Goodbye, Selected poems by Bob Brill was published in 2016.