DEAR OKLA

by Ruxandra Looft

 

 

We met about a decade ago during a week spent in Marbach at the Literaturarchiv. I had just finished my first year of my PhD program at Wash U and received this grant to travel to Marbach along with a few other peers and it felt like a big deal. And in some ways, I felt like an imposter.

But then I met you and a handful of other amazing people, who were all much more worldly and accomplished, and we drank wine and ate pizza while sitting at outdoor cafes and talking about literature but also life and friendship and so much more and I felt heartened. Knowing people like you made me feel good about this path I was embarking on.

Since then, we only kept in touch via social media and I watched you write and produce so much good work and with so much feeling and conviction behind it. You wrote because you believed in the power of words to change lives and to change the world and you inspired me in so many ways.

Today I opened my Facebook feed to see the sad news of your passing. It felt like a punch in the gut. You're so young. If you could die suddenly in the night, does that mean that I could too? Your death fills me with such deep sadness but I refuse to feel despair when I can rejoice in life. Your life, which you lived beautifully, and my life, which I feel so fortunate to have.

I can't believe that out of all of us who sat around that table at the little Italian place around the corner from the Literaturarchiv, two are already gone.  Okla, you are already greatly missed. Rest in peace, my friend. May your words live on and touch many more lives just as you did during your time on earth.

 

 

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