The SCP has just learned of the recent passing of poet and artist Sally Cook. She had been contributing her work since 2019 and recently her husband Robert Fisk passed away. The SCP sends its condolences to any surviving family and her many friends and fans.
Read about Sally’s life in her own words HERE.
Read her poetry HERE.
Read more about her life and art at the Burchfield Penney Art Center HERE.
Her good friend, poet Joseph S. Salemi said, “There is no place to send any cards or remembrances… The best anyone can do now is simply offer up a prayer for her soul.”
Sally Cook, you were a formidable poet with an utterly unique voice. I always looked forward to reading your work and was smitten by the poetry you crafted — work which was sometimes mystical, sometimes surreal, always emotionally grounded and unfailingly charming. You were a true original and will be greatly missed. Rest in peace.
May she rest in peace, and perpetual light shine upon her.
I can’t imagine Sally resting in peace any more than I can imagine the lunar tide giving up its influence. Sally, to me, is still alive, and I cannot imagine her wanting to be mourned. She is a rock the tides of time will never wash away.
Yes, may she rest in peace.
God bless her – and keep her in His wonderful light.
What an incredible life Sally had.
RIP
Sally Cook will be a name I always remember. You don’t realize how old an online poet is until they pass away, sometimes, but what a long and powerful life she led. I can’t wait to read her BIO. I’ll say a prayer for her. Where was she living in “Upstate, NY?”
Prior to her stint in rehab, Reid, she was living in Silver Creek NY.
Thank you Sally for your formidable poetic gift and your encouragement to me when I first joined SCP over ten years ago, as well as writing a blurb for my sonnet collection. I am reading your poetry today to honor and remember you.
Memory eternal.
What a glorious legacy. Sally Cook lives on! My much-loved friend had the knack of blessing my gray days with a wealth of wisdom and beams of sunshine. She will always hold a special place in my heart.
For Dame Sally
She summoned scenes in words of piquant hue –
Her sprawl of sherbet sunset with its tang
Of citrus zing eclipsed the sky-blue view
With mystic tones that lit up life and sang
Of zones beyond the flagstone-gray of roads
Already traveled by old souls who knew
The lilting trill of nightingale and lark.
Beyond the fusty tomes of cobwebbed odes,
She conjured perfumed pastures kissed with dew,
Imbued with gold and blessed with cats that bark.
I will miss reading her unique poetry and looking
at her striking works of art. She is on my prayer list.
I feel blessed to be able to read the poetry and enjoy pictures of the paintings of the remarkably talented Sally Cook who dedicated her life to beautiful art. Thank you SCP! RIP Sally Cook, until we meet some day in bright eternity. I’m looking forward to it.
Thank you for posting this. I read Sally’s autobiographical essay to my husband, who is a painter, and we were both amazed at the fascinating life she led as an artist and a poet.
In my email correspondence with her she told me so many interesting and hilarious stories. What a long and eventful life full of spectacular achievements. Her memory will live on in the hearts and minds of all those who admire her work.
I was afraid of the reports of her fragile health. She was an SCP treasure. I hope she went softly into the dark night and made her way to fields of light.
This is to let the readership of the SCP know that at the website Expansive Poetry Online, there is now a new section called “In Remembrance of Sally Cook.” It includes a lovely poem by Susan J. Bryant, and an essay of mine titled “In Memory of Sally Cook,” giving an account of her life, and my memories of her and her work.
Joseph, Susan and I found a ready friend in Sally Cook. We spoke to Sally and Bob by phone, they were the nicest people you’d ever meet.
The page you’ve mentioned at Expansive Poetry is here:
http://www.expansivepoetryonline.com/SallyCook.html
Many of her views on poetry, and all manner of “Current Things” are documented in her poems and comments here at SCP! She did NOT suffer fools quietly.
Sally was one of a kind… she is missed.