Name: Glenn Pape Poetry
Address: Portland

Biography

Previously Published/Posted Poems

Glenn was born in Elmhurst, IL on May 2, 1951 to a German-born father and American-Jewish mother. The youngest of four, he spent his childhood catching fireflies, helping his dad run the family machine shop, and developing a deep love of the arts.

After high school, he escaped the suburbs to pursue his Liberal Arts degree at Antioch College in Yellow Springs, OH. While not on campus, he spent those four years studying between San Francisco and Bandon, OR, where he honed his craft writing on a typewriter in the small shack he lived in. He also taught a class on Henry Miller (one of his favorite writers), and made many lifelong friends. It was a hugely important and formative period of his life.

Glenn spent the next 15+ years in San Francisco, immersed in the city’s counterculture and emerging punk scene of the 1980s. He wrote lyrics for bands (including The Symptoms, Crispy Baby, Wild Geese and the Lockers, and an offshoot of The Cockettes) and performed sometimes strange, always hilarious performance art – often accompanied by “Joey the Shrimp,” his handmade, anthropomorphized crustacean accomplice. Some of his notable performance titles include “My Body Parties When I’m Not There,” and “Charles Darwin’s Morning Sickness.”

Near the end of his time in the Bay Area, Glenn met and fell madly in love with Kathy Anthony. On a soul-searching solo trip to Europe, he realized how much he missed her, and how much better the experience would have been with her by his side. He proposed to her soon after returning home. They married in 1986, and thrived among friends in San Francisco.

In 1989, Glenn and Kathy moved north, and settled down in Portland. They welcomed their son Sam into the world in 1992, and daughter Madeline in 1995.

Glenn built a career as a management trainer at local ad agencies, software startups, and nonprofits (including United Way and Self Enhancement, Inc.). When his kids used to ask him what he did for work, he would say, “I teach adults how to be nice to each other.” He found fulfillment helping people reach their true aspirations and do their best work within a given organizational culture. In semi-retirement, he was a certified Hogan assessor, delivering feedbacks to business leaders all over the world.

At age 50, Glenn became a published poet, and he went on to have 30 poems published by the time of his passing. He liked to write about the aspects of life anyone can relate to – loss, love, laundry, colonoscopies – and how real, profound beauty can be found in all of it.

Glenn died on February 20, 2025 with his family by his side and his dog at his feet. It was his second day back home after a four-week battle with small cell lung cancer. He was 73 years old.

Anyone who met Glenn – even once – walked away having learned something new, with a deeper appreciation for life and a stronger belief in the fundamental goodness of people. He would recite poems to his Lyft drivers, get to know his bartenders, share a song he loved with a total stranger… Everything he did was driven by a genuine, urgent desire to share the beauty he saw in the world with everyone around him.

Glenn loved his family, his dog Bernie, traveling with Kathy, Rose City Roller Derby (GO BETTIES!), the Last Regiment of Syncopated Drummers, the Chicago Cubs (painful though it was), Lucinda Williams, every poet whose books lined his bathroom shelf, interesting amari and cocktails, and hosting friends at his home bar – the Medusa Lounge.

Glenn is survived by his wife Kathy, his son Sam, daughter Madeline, and daughter-in-law Rejane, his grandson Yves, his siblings Ron, Rich, and Gail, a large extended family, and his dog Bernie.

Written by Sam Pape

Donations in memory of Glenn are encouraged to the ACLU Foundation of Oregon.