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BRUCE COCKBURN >

Remembering Bill Hawkins: The poet who became a songwriter

July 6, 2016 – Poet, songwriter and erstwhile cab driver, Bill Hawkins died of cancer on July 4, 2016.

A poet is deeply conflicted and it’s in his work that he reconciles those deep conflicts.’
— Irving Layton

It’s traditional to begin these types of obituaries with an anecdote that best sums up the subject as a whole person.

Bill Hawkins - poet songwriter
Bill Hawkins – poet songwriter (photo – Wayne Hiebert/Postmedia)

But Bill Hawkins defies the one anecdote rule.

Bill Hawkins defied many of the rules, often to his personal and professional detriment.

And as with most people who communed with many, and lived the younger portion of life to excess, it’s occasionally difficult to determine where the truth ends and exaggeration begins.